To Be Continued?

No good movie is too long.

[shslcritical]

Reboot [Open RP]

[shsl-cat-masked-magician-deacti]

"So Saiya’s fine, that’s nice. I’ve been wanting to talk with her but… I guess she never responds back? I have no idea what’s up with her," Trinket scoffed. Oh wait that was because she was dead, ahahhah- wait Minoru was also dead, and murdered the murderer. Wow she should had thought about this friendly question.

"You really should get along with Ichigo, it be really funny," she snickered. "Fun, I meant fun. But don’t worry, I’m sure you two would warm up together eventually." Trinket had some weird feeling she would probably get out alive, but that meant she probably had things to tie up some loose ends with the dead guys. And that meant everything would be in check without her around.

Trinket watched as Minoru’s face went bright red. The magician squinted at him, “You did! You totally peeked!” Trinket exclaimed. “I mean who wouldn’t though I would had done it too,” she quietly snickered, looking away with a sly smirk. “So… Nothing out of you right? That’s fine, no information, no problem. We’ll get through eventually.”

[shslcritical]

Minoru frowned slightly at Trinket's joke... at least, he hoped it was a joke, but he hated being reminded of what he'd done to Saiya either way... the way she'd been completely and utterly mad, coming at him with a manic look in her eyes and a gleaming knife in her hand...

He stopped himself from remembering that and forced himself to focus on what Trinket was saying. He crossed his arms and pouted slightly, his voice indignant. "I-It's not my fault we don't get along. He's rude! And snappy! And he doesn't listen!"

When she accused him, Minoru turned an even brighter shade of red. "I-I didn't...! Well, maybe I... I didn't even see anything anyway!" he shouted indignantly before feeling slightly sheepish, he looked away from Trinket, nodding absent-mindedly. 

"We're the good guys, right? The good guys always win." he muttered, sounding less sure of himself than ever.  

[shslcritical]

Reboot [Open RP]

[ultimatehighschoolthief-blog]

He looked pretty relaxed to Kyo. That was a good thing; she was glad he didn’t seem angry with her despite their last few encounters. She dusted off her backside a bit, remembering about the dust up on the beams. People really needed to clean up there, in her opinion, but that wasn’t important right now. 

"Ah…how about just call me whatever comes naturally?" she suggested. She thought for a second how slightly rude everyone except Minoru was, mostly because they didn’t use honorifics. Then again, she didn’t either, but then again she always used ‘boku’ when referring to herself. "Oh geez—" She paused. "…actually I really do. Damn. I’ll take note of that, but it can wait till after we all escape." 

[shslcritical]

Whatever came naturally... well, she was a girl, and he didn't want to seem rude, but addressing as Kyo-kun was so deeply ingrained into his brain he didn't think he'd be able to change. However, he was so used to being polite, or at least trying to be, that he wasn't sure he'd be able to stop correcting himself. He sighed, and resigned himself to addressing her by a jumbled bunch of syllables that would hopefully include her name.

Minoru smiled brightly when she listened to him. This, he recalled, was why he'd decided he liked Kyo in the first place; an exceptional ability to take criticism.

"Escape... Yeah of course, it's important to beat the mastermind, but always remember to keep any possible improvements you can make in mind. After all, if you never get better, why bother living, right?"

[shslcritical]

Reboot [Open RP]

[shsl-cat-masked-magician-deacti]

In all honest opinions, Trinket was glad there was some sort of hug involved in this conversation, she really needed one. This wasn’t the time to mop around, Trinket had sighed as she let Minoru hug her. “As soon as we solve the murders and trial, you’ll just be a hunk of metal again,” Trinket said.

"It’s probably the same deal. Solve the murder, and another friend leaves me." That’s how it usually went down. Trinket took a big breath and smiled, "So how is Saiya and Ichigo?" She asked, getting curious on what her other dead buddies were doing. "I hope you guys are getting along well."

Trinket found herself propped up against the other. “… You know… I’ve been thinking,” the magician started. “About meeting everyone at the start, you thought I was an actor,” she snickered. “You weren’t off by much,” Trinket continued with a chuckle. She stayed quiet for a few minutes. “You’ve done some spying around stuff, and hopefully not peeking at anything inappropriate while being dead.” Trinket shot a suspicious glance at Minoru before going on. ”Do you know who’s behind this whole hospital?”

[shslcritical]

Minoru sighed internally with relief when Trinket accepted the hug. He listened to her, not like there was anything he had to say, anything he could say, because he had a suspicion that she was right, that whoever had done this wonderful thing would have their work undone as soon as the trial finished.

Smiling lightly when she mentioned her friends, their friends, he supposed, if he could count the bad-tempered, rude, telekinetic as a friend anyway. "Well... I can tell you Saiya-san's been doing a lot better after she..." he stopped choking slightly as he remembered how Saiya had met her end: on the end of her own knife, held in his frantic hand.

After a few moments, he was able to continue. "And as for Hinode-kun... I'm not really sure. You might not have noticed, but we don't get along too great. He really needs to improve on his respect and manners, maybe then we'd get along better."

When Trinket mentioned inappropiate peeking, Minoru's face burned a bright red as he suddenly became very very interested in the wall of the morgue and, slightly tongue-tied, stammered out. "I-I haven't d-done anything like that!" with a tone about as convincing as wet paper was firm, before continuing, slightly more calmly. "And I'm afraid I don't know any more than you. I really should work on my detective skills, shouldn't I?"

[shslcritical]

Reboot [Open RP]

[shsl-cat-masked-magician-deacti]

"N-no no! I knew that wasn’t you!" Trinket exclaimed when he began apologizing. Right there was no mask, this was difficult. "I’d still forgive you even if you were you," she chuckled. Trinket had stepped closer, now having some sort of confidence that this was the Minoru she knew. 

"How’s being dead again, sorry for plucking you back to life." Trinket attempted a smile. Man tearing up was hard to not do, seeing the dead again, as themselves. And not to mention most of her friends were basically murderers and were executed and… 

Trinket found herself starting to cry. “I-I… really missed…. you….” She sniffed. “You guys all left me,” she tried to say in some joke tone, but it was just left unsteady. Wiping away some of the tears with her sleeve, Trinket had took another step closer. “I’m happy you’re all back and all but…. you’re not going to stay around long are you…?”

[shslcritical]

Minoru looked back up at Trinket with the hint of a smile returning to his face. That chuckle he heard wasn't completely cheery, but it was certainly the Trinket he knew. 

Minoru took a breath to reply to her question about being dead when she began to cry. For a few seconds he panicked internally, not sure what to do. After a few seconds of deliberation, he took a chance.

Minoru moved forwards and gently put his arms around Trinket, not quite sure how she'd react but willing to risk anything if he had a chance of cheering her up. After all, he owed her that much at least, after she'd kept him from going mad.

"I missed you too..." he whispered, warm tears forming in his eyes and trickling down his cheeks. Then he sighed sadly. "And... I don't know. But... I wouldn't  count on me staying around for that long, I'm so, so sorry." 

[shslcritical]

Reboot [Open RP]

[ultimatehighschoolthief-blog]

Kyo looked pleased as Minoru replied normally this time. So there wasn’t a despair chip in them. Which probably meant that this wasn’t Monobear’s doing. Probably. Actually, she had a good idea who it could be, but it was a far fetched idea. In any case, it was good to see a friend. 

"I don’t mind if you use masculine honorifics," she said, with a small grin. "I’m more used to it anyway, but you go ahead and call me what you want." She looked over him again and nodded. "Definitely agree on you with that. But I can tell you one thing, it probably isn’t Monobear this time… But… Aha… You might have come to life at a more… difficult time." 

"On the bright side, though, you’ll probably be around for longer," she pointed out. "Those kinds of improvements are pretty advanced, so… I’m guessing you’ll be here for the trial." Oh fuck we’re all going to die together, aren’t we? "Ah…that’s the difficult part. You see, I’m thinking the person who helped you… Well, he’s sorta dead and so is his partner. Then again she was long dead. Buuuuuuuut anyway. We’re going to need a lot of help." 

[shslcritical]

Minoru crossed his arms, resuming a more casual demenour. Or at least, as casual as someone with a mechanical arm and a chest plate covered in glowing tubes and light-up displays of mysterious function could be.

He frowned slightly. "Kyo-ku... I mean Kyo-sa... I mean... Kyo-k- I mean..." Minoru shook himself and continued. "Anyway, I'm afraid I still have as much idea of what's going on as I would if I'd just stuck my head in a bucket and attended a twelve-hour seminar on quantum physics in French. I recommend you work on your communication skills."    

[shslcritical]

Reboot [Open RP]

[shsl-cat-masked-magician-deacti]

The Magician got bored and decided to head toward the room where the bodies were stashed. She was sure there was some other proper name for it but it really wasn’t important and she could care less about cold bodies. Trinket’s habit of adjusting her mask was terrible if there was no mask, she was still getting used to having her masks gone. Almost walking past the room, Trinket caught sight of some…. familiar dead guy.

Oh. It was him. Trinket blinked as she stared at Minoru, he was up and running again. Were they still the same as before or what. She quickly scaned the dead guy with shifty eyes. Trinket sighed, she really wanted to just forget about her friends coming back to life and leave. She felt guilty about not having any excitement for reuniting but she already went through too much. Sooner or later these guys are going to drop dead again. “Hi…” She finally greeted in a mumble.

[shslcritical]

Minoru's eyes lit up when he saw Trinket. Not literally, although it could easily have been considering the electronics making his body function. When he heard the way she sighed and mumbled, his spirits dropped a little. Trinket, the girl who cheered him up time and time again, the one who could remain light-hearted through death after death.

Recalling "his" last encounter with her, where the circuits in his body had taken control and forced him to say things... things he would never say... he cringed.

The joy he'd initially felt at seeing the girl he loved slowly receded. it wasn't really the best of conditions for a reunions, was it.

Sighing, Minoru looked at the floor and mumbled. "I'm sorry, Trinket-san. I'm... I'm so sorry about... everything. It's okay if you don't want to forgive me for what I did."

In the back of his head, Minoru noted that he could have been more articulate, and could barely bring himself to care.

[shslcritical]

Reboot [Open RP]

[ultimatehighschoolthief-blog]

At this point, Kyo had wondered to see if all the dead kids were coming back to life. And some….well, some she needed to talk to again. There were things that needed to be said and apologies that needed to come out. So, she did what Kyo did best. She sat somewhere close as she quietly watch Minoru spring back to life. 

"That’s better wiring, don’t you think?" Kyo said, after a while. She sat up high on the beams of the ceiling, looking down at Minoru before jumping off. She landed a few feet away and looked at him with an approving smile. "Welcome back, Minoru." 

[shslcritical]

Minoru's eyes flashed with a bright red light as he nearly jumped out of his skin with shock, as Kyo came out of seemingly nowhere. The light dimmed back down as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head with his mechanical arm. 

Realizing it was his friend, he calmed down, smiling. "Kyo-ku... er, Kyo-san. It's great to see you again!" he frowned slightly, being reminded of the last time he'd been woken up. "And yeah, it's not like last time. Then... I was fighting for control of my body, and losing. I don't know what's different this time, but I'm in control of myself now, I don't know who's done this, but I'm willing to say 8/10 on the prosthetic and chestplate, they look kind of like movie props, don't you think?"

Minoru was unable to keep out of his voice a small touch of excitement, a small touch of how happy he was to be alive, even if he didn't know for how long, a small touch of how cool he thought his mechanical replacements looked, even if he couldn't think about why he needed them without breaking down. But most of all, a touch of how happy he was to talk to his friends again.     

[shslcritical]

Reboot [Open RP]

Minoru opened his eyes.

The critic leapt to his feet when the realization hit him, he was alive. Him. Not the creeping despair, the commands coming down the circuitry, the cruel words and harsh, jagged actions, no, it was Minoru Mikami who was back. 

He flexed his arm, the arm that had been... no, better not to think about that, better to focus and the fact that he was alive, that he was living, breathing in the flesh.

Flexing the mechanical limb, he couldn't help but feel it was kind of cool, reminding him of the terminator. With that thought in mind, he smiled slightly, looking around.

He had a feeling that the plot was unravelling, that the climax was coming soon. He had a feeling that it was time for a final battle, the showdown with the bad guy of the film, the thrilling conclusion. And he was ready. 

[gingerbuzzshake-deactivated2021]

Moving around [Minoru and Tybalt]

Tybalt looked down at his knees, he felt like he had been stabbed in the chest with no idea that crying for hours could hurt this much. After his conversation with Tatsuya though he had walked out of the string ward at least feeling a little differently. However with how he was feeling he didn’t think anything could make him feel better at all or at the least, he guessed so.

He found himself aimlessly wandering again, not sure where to go when he looked into a room he was just passing. He wasn’t too sure for how long the room has been unlocked. He seemed to curiously peek in not sure if he should go in or just carry on walking. He moved his head to look around the corridor he was standing in when he noticed someone nearby. 

"Minoru?"

[shslcritical]

Minoru had been sitting on a bed in the maternity ward. He'd ratehr have been in a locked room and not having to deal with seeing the survivors and their sad, sorry state, but he'd found that, although one would think that being a ghost would have obvious benefits when it came to doors and walls, in this hospital he couldn't get past any locks.

In fact, he'd found out quite a lot about being a ghost, and had at several points briefly considered writing out a set of rules that ghosts seemed to follow, a sort of 'handbook for the recently deceased.'

Minoru had come here because he'd needed to recharge after the nightmarish and traumatic experience that had been his 'resurrection'. In a lot of ways, the ward brought back bad memories, yes, but coming here reminded him that was behind him. That he was a good guy now, that they were all good guys regardless of what they'd done.

He'd come here to remind himself that the iron grip pressing into Trinket's wrist, the horrible hissing threats, those hadn't been him. That was the mastermind, and there had been nothing that he could have done, and why was it so hard to believe himself?

Distracted from his moping, he turned to see Tybalt. He smiled sadly. He knew that what had happened to him had also happened to the bartender, although with a body less damages the process was probably far more refined.

"Hello, Tybalt-kun."

[lavie-lamort-lachance-blog]

I can walk through walls?! (Ghost Open)

[lavie-lamort-lachance-blog]

  Four felt a lump form in her throat at the mention of that god-awful trial. She recalled the combined voices of the other students, dooming Minoru to a fate which should never befall anyone as young with such a bright future. 

  “I’m sorry Minoru. I’m sorry I couldn’t do any more to make you feel better.” Four let a few more tears brim over her eyes as she looked, almost ashamed, down at the floor. “I just wish people had been nicer about it, you know? Sure, you were the true culprit, but why on earth should your last moments memory of your classmates condemning you?” 

  Four sighed sadly, a wayward tear falling from the end of her nose. “You never deserved your end though, Minoru. I’m so sorry for what happened to you. Nobody should ever have to go through that.”

[shslcritical]

Minoru looked down and sniffed, barely holding back tears. He'd barely talked to this girl apart from trivial things at breakfast like "Pass the salt" or a muttered apology when pushing past each other in corridors.

He hadn't even known her well enough to mention her on his last movie, something which he was now starting to feel very guilty about. After all, it was a terrible quality in a person not to bother to get to know others properly.

"Well... yes, it was pretty awful, but really, I think I had to die. I mean, I was the bad guy, right? But when I died, I let myself be caught, right? I planted the evidence. I-It's kind of like that in the movies isn't it? When the bad guy dies... if he dies nobly... doesn't that make him into a sort of good guy again?"

His voice cracked a little, taking on an almost pleading tone as tears welled up in his eyes, "R-right? That's how it works, I've watched enough movies to know, right?"

[natewilsonmarksman]

The TermiNater

Outside the Camera Room stood Nate, looking through the door at the reanimated Minoru. He wasn’t like Tyz who looked mostly himself, he looked part robot. But Nate assumed his brain had been messed with just the same. He hadn’t exactly gotten on with Minoru while he was alive though their relationship was nowhere near as bad as others he’d seen. And Minoru had said he thought there was good in him in his message but now Nate was no longer sure he agreed.

He wasn’t sure why he was here, why he was visiting these zombies. Was it for information? To stay aware of them? Maybe but he could just assume they were like Tyz, trying to push people to desperation. He entered the camera room without saying anything but the sound of the door opening likely alerted Minoru.

[shslcritical]

Minoru's head twisted unnaturally to look at the entrant. Searching the destroyed brain of the dead critic, the cyborg retrieved all of the memories pertaining to Nate Wilson.

The corners of the body's mouth jerked strangely upwards, forming a worrying almost-smile as the eyes glowed a bright crimson momentarily before dimming down.

"Oh look, it's the side character the director forgot to kill off. What a pity. You're so pointless. I wish someone else was alive instead of you, the scriptwriter must have been off his fucking meds to let you live this far in."

A laugh track burst forth from some hidden speaker and then stopped just as suddenly.

"But who knows. Maybe this motive is gonna change that, eh?"

[shslcritical]

Uncut and Unedited

[shsl-cat-masked-magician-deacti]

The out of character Roboru words were…. Minoru’s? Oh wow he was stuck in that piece of metal scrap! Trinket blinked in surprise, she just thought this was all robotic machinery work. And then it started…. crying? Well this brought some memories back.

"Thanks to me?" Trinket repeated in a confused tone. Now having the reassurance from Minoru’s interruption, she now knew this hunk of junk was lying, although she already knew that. "I guess I am proud of myself," she purred, walking over. She tugged her handkerchief out and as if this wasn’t the Minoru she knew and liked a lot, Trinket had wiped the blood off. "Proud of killing my friend, like I haven’t done that before," she snickered. "Mentally of course, I wouldn’t harm a fly."

[shslcritical]

The corpse didn't quite understand what was going on. She was despairing, yes, who wouldn't be despairing seeing their friend like this, but she wasn't despairing enough. Reaching a mechanical arm out, it quickly put a painfully tight grip on her wrist.

Looking into her eyes with dead, unseeing orbs with a pulsing, ominous red light behind them, it hissed. "That unaffected façade is really starting to get old, you know. I wonder what it'll take to get you to drop it?"

[lavie-lamort-lachance-blog]

I can walk through walls?! (Ghost Open)

[lavie-lamort-lachance-blog]

  Four swung around, her midnight tresses swinging around behind her like a vast curtain of black satin. She had been mildly startled by his outburst, but she felt her own dismay well up twofold  at the sight of the few tears that were beginning to roll down his cheeks.

  “Minoru…” The seamstress trailed off, her voice quiet and laced with her sadness. She couldn’t stop images of his execution from flickering across her mind, and she let out a short, quiet sob before a barrage of tears cascaded down her translucent cheeks. Before she knew it, she had rushed towards the male, floating upward a little with a strange, ghostly grace, and swept him into a motherly embrace. She smoothed the hair on top of his head, her tears falling into the very same hair.

  “I-I’m so sorry Minoru-” She sobbed again, cradling the critic almost as one would a small infant. “You should never have gone through that…” She hiccuped again. “That awful bear. You poor thing. You…” Four realised what she was doing.

  “Oh my Lord I am so sorry Minoru I didn’t mean to do that I just get so upset and then I just… I just hug people and…” She trailed off once more, tears once again flooding down her face as she recalled mothering friends who had been hurt on the playground or who had been scolded by a teacher. 

Does anyone even remember me anymore?

[shslcritical]

Minoru was not expecting to be hugged, but with the way he was feeling, he wasn't about to complain, letting a few lone tears trickle down his cheeks while the taller seamstress embraced him.

When she let him go, he blushed slightly, he wasn't totally sure how to deal with someone apologizing to him, so he just waved a hand around vaguely, mumbling. "N-no, it's fine, really. You shouldn't be apologizing. I...I just have to say..."

As the critic spoke, more tears filled his eyes, and his voice began to shake a little. "Thanks for... at the tr-trial... you know... thanks..."

[shslcritical]

Uncut and Unedited

[shsl-cat-masked-magician-deacti]

Aw man that smile is being disgusting. It’s not even a smile it looked like something really nasty that was forced. Like a stitched up smile, he didn’t want to see another like it again. Giving a scoff, Trinket crossed her arms. “Died in agony, wasn’t able to save him, executed, those are all in the past.”

Right, she voted for someone else rather than Minoru. Surely it was a forgotten fact now but… Well it was a decent attempt. But now she felt guilty about voting for Minoru, but now more guilty for voting for that one person who now she was friends with.

"Better friend? I guess cheering him up or letting that event happen wasn’t enough," she snickered. Trinket had placed a hand on her hip, "It was his own choice of self defense." She purred. "But I guess you wouldn’t had known that. He broke a promise and yet kept it up in death. You’re not doing so good at it."

Snickering, Trinket had sharply glared at Roboru. “How would he say it, 0/10?” She then laughed and mockingly clapped. But she slowly clapped to a halt. “Romance is never meant to last, you’ve seen those movies before. If that was true, than this movie would end the same way for you. I was hoping to make up for lost time but… I guess you really are dead as a door nail….”

[shslcritical]

The corpse took a few seconds to calibrate its circuits, and for a second Minoru was able to take control of the vocal cords, choking out a few words. "T-tr...inket-san... It's.. I-It's lying.. I'm sorry..." before a loud crackling came from somewhere within the body and blood began to leak from behind an eyeball as the pulsing red light returned.

The machine's head swiveled to look Trinket directly in the eyes. "I'm dead, yeah, and it was thanks to you. I hope you're fucking proud of yourself, huh?"

[shslcritical]

Uncut and Unedited

[ultimatehighschoolthief-blog]

Well, he’s certainly not going to be walking down the red carpet with that award winning smile of his. Seriously Mastermind, would it KILL you to just put a little bit more effort for Minoru? I mean common. Even Kengo wasn’t that bad. 

"Hehe, it’s fun being that character," she hummed. "That is, if I even really am that character. I can think of one more person that fits the role better than I can.” She smiled as if none of this affected her. Which, to be honest, it really didn’t at this point. “Well, you see, I like to put it this way; I was just at the right place at the right time.” To which, she actually felt like she was. Unfortunately, her natural mental defense included taunting; this may not go over well.

[shslcritical]

Minoru leaned towards her, his movements nearly natural but not quite, not quite smooth but not quite jerky. A drop of blood dripped from his cheek and hit the floor between them with an audible splash.

"You don't deserve to be alive. I think your title is fitting, because you take what you don't deserve and leave the people who earned it to rot. You can't even honor the memory of your friend properly, you worthless waste of space."

[shslcritical]

Uncut and Unedited

[ultimatehighschoolthief-blog]

She looked at Minoru a bit horrified at first, but then she had a strange look of ‘Wow, you weren’t as lucky as Tyz, were you?’ With one arm, she held her bears and placed her other hand next to her mouth in a thinking position as she observed Minoru’s actions and his current state. 

"Hey Minoru," she greeted casually. Damn, that is some shitty wiring if it’s sparking that much. God forbid the wires are crossed in his chest or something. She watched as he sparked and twitched, skipped in speech and cracked. Christ, Mastermind. You could unpoison Tyz, but you couldn’t bother checking Minoru’s wiring? 4/10. 

"Yes, yes I am. Lazy and useless as a sloth, but just like a sloth I’m still one hundred percent non-extinct," she said, in a cheerful tone. 

[shslcritical]

The corpse nodded, muscles pulling at his face in odd directions until it resembled a caricature of a face, small amounts of blood seeping from the eyes and mouth.

"Yes, Kyo-san. You know when a character dies in a movie, and the fans wonder why another character didn't die instead? You're that character. You selfish bitch, what right do you think you have to be alive when I'm dead, when Kengo-kun, Tybalt-kun, we all died in a horrible agony, and you're alive?"

[shslcritical]

Uncut and Unedited

[shsl-cat-masked-magician-deacti]

Oh shit did she activate the Sassy-noru? Those flashy red eyes didn’t look like a good sign. Trinket rubbed her eyes under the mask from the bright lights. “Mhm, yeah sure, whatever you say, buddy,” she hummed to the other’s attempt to bring her down. “Not to say that you’re right on track or anything,” she snickered. “And I know I’ll probably die, but I can’t say the same for you.”

Laughing at her sick yet sad joke, there seemed to be a pang of guilt hidden in that laugh. She frowned underneath the mask soon after Roboru’s next impact of words. “Minoru didn’t have your face. He looked much more normal than a robot. Not saying that that’s not cool or anything. Metal fits you.”

Metal as in cold hearted you empty looking corpse, but she didn’t say that out loud. But she understood what the motive was now. Use the dead hot bodies to manipulate the living to kill someone. Smart plan. “Wait… Loved?” Trinket asked surprised. “That’s…. Entirely possible I’m flattered,” she snickered. “But…. It’s not important to me anymore,” Trinket said coolly, in a well hidden lie.

[shslcritical]

The glow behind Minoru's eyes continued to pulse, getting brighter and dimmer. The corpse grinned cruelly, a smile without any humour or happiness to it, a smile produced by faulty circuits sending unnatural signals to damaged facial muscles to pull the corners of the mouth up, a smile in name only.

"But this is Minoru's face, fresh from the grave after he died, died in agony because you weren't able to save him. He was terrified, he was in the most horrible agony he'd ever felt in his life when he was executed, did you know that?"

The body turned its head so that its dimly glowing eyes met Trinket's own, or at least the eye-holes of the mask. "Oh yes, he loved you. He loved you, and maybe if you'd been a better friend, he wouldn't have died. If you'd been any use at all, if you'd been anything besides a selfish waste of space, then maybe he'd still be alive."