hit 005 || awakening
The fact that he had more nerve to speak to Ai than to Oten after everything that had transpired honestly wasn’t that ridiculous. Knowing already that the other boy hated him it was hard for Banri to work up the masochistic energy needed to willingly speak to him. Funny how if he were alive, those would’ve been the words to describe him hanging around Ai. Now it seemed the other way around, that repeatedly trying to mend his friendship with Oten was just asking for punishment.
Still, maybe things had changed now. Despite what he’d gone and done, Banri was always an optimist and when he was in a better state of mind he would’ve never thought of harming another person, nor would he think anyone else capable of such. Sometimes after passing there was a sense of relief or a sense of understanding that made people a lot more rational. Hopefully Oten was of this variety.
Hovering over the other’s icon tentatively, Banri took a figurative deep breath before activating it. Just like every other time he’d spoken to someone else who’d passed away, they appeared before him in a manner uncanny. Only this time he was even less sure on what to say.
Banri’s sheer awkwardness almost prompted him to begin with an ill-suited, "I told you so." Instead his mouth opened up, floundering for a bit before settling on what he could manage.
"I'm sorry, Kouei-kun."
No responses, and Oten began to feel guilty. Perhaps he shouldn't have said anything. With the way he'd treated everyone, did he really deserve to have anyone talking to him right now? Did he really deserve to have friends? He didn't know, but he continued to wait, hoping that someone would want to speak to him.
A few more hours passed, and finally, his alter-ego was summed. He felt himself disappearing from the realm he was in currently, then reappearing in front of another. First his feet, this his legs, torso, etc. - when his face and eyes finally loaded in, he saw who he stood before, and his smile dropped.
Banri Bunko.
A friend of his become murderer, who he had said awful things to. In retrospect, he could somewhat understand why he had done what he did, but at the same time, he couldn't. It had bothered him for so long, it had been part of the reason he'd lost himself near the end, and lost all hope but...there was still something there, wasn't there? Banri still wanted to speak to him.
But did Oten want to know? Did he want the explanation? He had done something so incredibly dishonorable to someone who Oten had wanted to get to know better so badly, he had betrayed him by killing Boa, when he never thought he would do something like that.
No. He had to know. He had to become different at least in his afterlife, to make up for the way he was in his living state. The smile slowly returned to Oten's face, but it was an incredibly shaky one, and one could tell his words were forced.Â
"S-Sorry for what, B-Bunko-san? For my death...? For brutally murdering our friend...?"
Well he'd tried.
