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ｆｏｕｒｔｈ ｗａｌｌ。ａｃｔｉｏｎ。
[ People. People everywhere all of a sudden. And Ange doesn't know the cause for it, nor does she particularly feel like thinking about it right now, so she does what she does best.
Being anti-social.
Ange is mostly planning on finding some quiet place where she doesn't have to stay inside all day yet doesn't have to face the crowds either, but obviously it isn't really working with so many people all over the village all of a sudden. So the chance is big that rather than avoiding the crowd, she'll only run into people more and more as time goes on. Maybe there's even some familiar faces. Or familiar trollfaces, considering the kind of people Ange knows. ]
Being anti-social.
Ange is mostly planning on finding some quiet place where she doesn't have to stay inside all day yet doesn't have to face the crowds either, but obviously it isn't really working with so many people all over the village all of a sudden. So the chance is big that rather than avoiding the crowd, she'll only run into people more and more as time goes on. Maybe there's even some familiar faces. Or familiar trollfaces, considering the kind of people Ange knows. ]
[ Action ]
Don't be scared, Ange, if you suddenly find yourself surrounded by a bust of red cicadas and then find yourself on the roof of one of the community buildings. Neither be worried about the man suddenly hugging you from behind, from the looks of it it's just your idiotic boyfriend.
Or is he?]
[ Action ]
Ah-- [ Suddenly on the roof-- but once she gets over that disoriented feeling, which happens rather quickly considering it's Ange, she still looks somewhat surprised at what's going on. One weird thing after another here, huh? ]
... Keiichi? [ She can't look much behind her with him holding her like this, but it seems enough like him from what she can see, either way.. ]
[ Action ]
I love you, Ange. I love you. With all my heart, mind and soul. You're the only one that I'll ever love like this. Even after returning, no girl will be loved by me as much as I love you. I'll do everything and anything for you, it's not a promise, it's a fact. I don't mind what I have to become in order to find a way to get back to your side. And I won't regret any decision made in order to achieve that, do you understand?
[ Action ]
What are you saying all of a sudden..? [ at least her voice's softer now than just deadpan. ]
You know I love you too, but.. [ 'why this now?' ]
[ Action ]
He keeps holding her, hugging her close, enjoying it.]
It doesn't matter, you just have to understand it and remember it for as long as you can. I love you, I'll protect you, forever, here and outside of this place, even if you forget me, even if you don't recognize me. I will never abandon you, I'll always come back to you even if you tell me not to, or reject me. Sorry, but that's final, and nothing you say will change it. Coins or not, you're stuck with me forever... But it would be nice if the next time there's something you want to say or do to get happiness, you do it right away, without second guessing, okay? You never know when may be the last time you see someone in a long time, you should say everything you want and feel the moment you realize you want to say it.
[He shifts a bit, still not letting her move or look at him, and places a soft kiss on her cheek.]
You're my biggest treasure. Never forget or doubt that.
[ Action ]
What an insistent guy.. Some people might call that stalking, you know? [ But the joke is different from her usual deadpan. Definitely more warm and fond, and she leans behind into the hug a little. ]
But.. you don't have to worry about all that. There's nothing I have to say, nothing I can be too late to say, because right now, like this, I'm.. happy.
[ She can admit that much now. Having such an ordinary life in Luceti, the kind she's never had, with some of her family, with friends, with someone she loves and who loves her back.. Isn't that just what she wanted? ]
But for that happiness, I definitely need you to be there, Keiichi, so.. that's all I want. You don't have to do anything for me or get anything for me, and especially not sacrifice yourself or anything for my sake.. all you need to do is keep staying right beside me like you're saying now.
[ Action ]
[The hug tightens when she says that there's nothing she has to say or she can be too late to say. Right, this Ange already said it, but not even him can know the future. Oh well, he knows Ange and how she will only listen to what she wants.
He can't help but chuckle at her last words, it's a humorless laugh, it's filled with pain and sadness. He kisses her cheek again.]
I'm glad that at least those versions of us can be happy, but it's too late for me. Sorry.
[He let's go of her, stepping back, he needs room to teleport. He could do it while hugging her but he doesn't want her to see. Unless she's quick all she will see is a burst of red cicadas vanishing into nothing, much like Beatrice's golden butterflies.]
[ Action ]
Kei--
[ ... But there's already nothing there anymore, just the red cicadas, and even when she reaches out to those they just fade away, leaving her behind very confused and just staring into nothing. ]
... -chi..
[ Action ]
Pity his plan of being Mr. Mystery with Ange could fail if she happens to spot a Keiichi with a red coat, which she probably noticed when he hugged her, sitting on the rooftop.]
[ Action ]
But then she spots him in an unusual place when she's running and immediately stops. Because.. now she can fully see it, that red coat she has faintly spotted when he had held her earlier, and..
Well, just thinking about it isn't going to help anything, so maybe even before Primo can fully notice Ange already quickly manages to get her way up to the rooftop. ]
There you are..! [ give her a moment, she's still catching her breath from running all over. ] I was looking for you all over.
[ Action ]
You sure you were looking for me?
[ Action ]
Who else could I be looking for, the Keiichi I know?
[ because by now it's rather easy to figure out this is another Keiichi - after everything she's seen today already, him talking about versions of them, the red cicadas.. ]
[ Action ]
[He looks at her, he probably already knows the answer but he feigns not to.]
[ Action ]
[ ... why? Because she wants answers, of course, she wants to know what all of that was supposed to be about, why he told her all of that, but.. maybe also because he had sounded so sad right before he disappeared, so full of pain. For Keiichi, any Keiichi at all, to sound like that.. ]
Because I want to know, of course. What was all that just now for?
[ Action ]
[He looks away at the village.]
It was nothing. Just a friendly advice and a reminder. Sometimes things are easier to believe when a third person says them.
[ Action ]
I don't need that advice. [ well, no, that's not true, but-- ] ... Anymore, that is. I've learned.
Besides, that's not what I'm asking about. When you said it's too late for you.. what did you even mean?
[ Action ]
[He looks at her.]
You said that I didn't need to sacrifice myself or anything for your sake, you probably also mean I didn't need to sacrifice myself for anything. That all I needed to do was to stay right besides you. And I said that I was glad that you and him would be happy here now.
You're a clever girl, Ange, don't ask questions which answer you can already guess. Look at me, look at yourself. What could I mean by it being too late?
[ Action ]
So she can piece most of it together, except for the gap inbetween those two facts - how this Keiichi became a wizard. But what he said earlier.. 'I don't mind what I have to become in order to find a way to get back to your side.'
... ]
You didn't.. find 'me' then? [ His Ange, of course. Since he said it was too late for him to become happy like that. ]
[ Action ]
[He pauses and the silence stretches to the point where it may seem as if he's not going to say anything else.]
But I'm not her Keiichi.
[ Action ]
[ Action ]
[He shifts a little before he continues, still not looking at her.]
Back then, for what I was about to gain, the power to reach to all of you, to help you all for real and be able to fulfill all my goals... I thought it was a small price, I still think so. But it seems you don't agree.
I can see it in her eyes and hear it in her voice. She doesn't see Keiichi when she looks at me, she sees a monster, a witch, that simply wears Keiichi's face. My voice can't seem to reach her when we talk, the only time it reached her was when I told her who I am now. I won't be surprised if soon she starts to reject and deny me directly.
[ Action ]
... I'm sorry. [ Even if it's not her place to apologize for actions that aren't exactly hers. But still some part of her feels like she should, since obviously something like that would have hurt him, right..? ]
I can't claim to exactly understand her, since.. even if we're both 'Ange', we're different. But to me, you're still Keiichi. [ even if he gave up his name, or even if he became a wizard or even if some things about his attitude changed.. when he was standing behind her earlier, that was practically the same as she knew him. ] That 'me'.. She's probably scared. If she was taken from Luceti.. well, if I would be taken from Luceti right now, I'd be upset too, so I can understand. She's probably scared, or sad because she feels like her near-happiness was taken from her, or mad at herself for not being able to say it earlier. ... Probably all of it. So much that she's completely taken up by it and she can't see it the way I do as easily.
[ Action ]
[Then again it's easy to be accepting and all when their real Keiichi is sleeping in his bedroom peacefully. They can just remind themselves of that and then it won't matter who this other man is. It's not the same person.]
She refuses to listen to me. And I'm not kind or patient enough to keep swallowing it all on my own.
[After all he has no one to talk to. No one to whom he can truly open and who would understand. Ange could but she's too busy being the only one suffering to see what she's doing.]
[ Action ]
[ He said 'almost' prefer, after all. And asking that gives her the time to think about the rest, since it's difficult to say anything when she has to guess to the complete situation, when she has to try and think of what 'she' would think and feel in that situation, since she was never forced to leave, even if they're the same person. ]
If only you could reach an understanding.. then it'd be okay, wouldn't it? If she would be able to listen to you, and you would be able to tell her anything instead of having to keep it in by yourself.. [ She idly plays with the one-winged eagle ring on her finger as she talks and tries to think. It's sort of strange to think about it, and maybe she's thinking about it a little too distantly instead about another 'Ange', but.. ]
I guess there's not much I can do or say, but.. I know one thing, even if it will probably just sound very selfish. [ Now she looks to her side, at him. ] Just like I said I need Keiichi with me to be happy.. You are the only chance she has at being able to become happy too. [ ... ] She just needs to be able to realise that as well.