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ｏｎｅ。 ａｕｄｉｏ。
[ There are a few slight moments of silence - perhaps, if you listen closely enough, you can hear some slight sounds of nature from the forest's edge in the background - before a girl speaks up with a quite deadpan (and calm, considering the situation) tone. ]
Am I being reduced to this again this soon already? I really must be popular with all of you witches. So, which one of you do I have the honor of dealing with this time? Bernkastel again, or even that Featherine witch? ... Either way, you can come out and start laughing now. If you're looking for your cue, this is it.
[ She pauses for a moment, as if she actually does expect someone to pop up. But when it doesn't happen, she just continues talking. ]
It's pretty inconsiderate to let someone waiting after dragging them in, you know. Although I guess I should expect as much from the lot of you.
And what's up with these wings? 'Sure, let's give her pink wings this time just to see the look on her face, ahahaha' or whatever, right? I'm not laughing, but surely you predicted as much.
... Any normal person would start to think I'm going insane by now, like I'm talking to myself. Ah.. it's useless, it's all useless. Does anyone who's not me feel like speaking up already?
Am I being reduced to this again this soon already? I really must be popular with all of you witches. So, which one of you do I have the honor of dealing with this time? Bernkastel again, or even that Featherine witch? ... Either way, you can come out and start laughing now. If you're looking for your cue, this is it.
[ She pauses for a moment, as if she actually does expect someone to pop up. But when it doesn't happen, she just continues talking. ]
It's pretty inconsiderate to let someone waiting after dragging them in, you know. Although I guess I should expect as much from the lot of you.
And what's up with these wings? 'Sure, let's give her pink wings this time just to see the look on her face, ahahaha' or whatever, right? I'm not laughing, but surely you predicted as much.
... Any normal person would start to think I'm going insane by now, like I'm talking to myself. Ah.. it's useless, it's all useless. Does anyone who's not me feel like speaking up already?
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[ She can't just not be blantant when it comes down to Bernkastel. Perhaps ranting this much about her is just Ange's way of trying to get rid of the slight anxiety growing in her gut just at the idea of her being in this place. ]
... This much is all I need. [ Her voice levels up from the deadpan slightly, to a form resembling determination. ] If I'm given a chance to be with my older brother again, I won't waste it. I'll find a way for everything to be alright, one way or another.
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[Girls do that, don't they? Keiichi doesn't mind her ranting, honestly he knows that sometimes it's needed.]
That's no good, if this much is really all you need they will have an easy time hurting you even more in the future. But I like the spirit on the rest of that, this is really a great chance for anything and everything, one shouldn't waste it.
What does "everything to be alright" means for you, exactly?
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[ Deadpanning is a form of venting, obviously.. ]
If you turn it the other way around, it would be even easier to hurt someone who needs a lot of things, considering there's no way they could acquire them all as easily. But I digress. A timetable of avoiding Bernkastel and spending more time with Battler onii-chan sounds just fine with me.
For him to be okay. And.. preferably for me to be okay too so I'm able to spend time with him, but it's less of a priority.
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[Probably him. The English use catches his attention, it's not hard to tie the dots. Bernkastel knew someone who used English at times, this girl knows Bernkastel and she uses English expressions... At least one. And she seems the type to not give up at obstacles and the like. So she must be the girl Bernkastel was talking about months ago. Not that she said much but it gives Keiichi a better idea on what kind of person Ange is, in which case... Well, it may be better for her to know it already.]
That's true, but you can't be hurt by having something taken away from you when you have never had it to begin with. Someone who wants many things will never acquire all of them, but it's harder to know what they have already to take away from them when one wants to hurt them.
Luceti is a fickle place, people arrive without warning. And leave in the same manner. It may take years, months... Or days.
[He knows it by personal experience.]
So be sure to get a timetable as full of your brother as possible. Even if normally you would be able to spend time with him anyway.
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[ Of course she's just still deadpanning, perhaps on the edge of actually joking, but the last part wouldn't be all that strange for Bernkastel. ]
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Now she was given this one chance.. She couldn't let it slip away. Not now. ]
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[ It comes out a little weak, much weaker than she would have liked to sound - so she mans up immediately. ]
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I'll find a way for the two of us to be together, even if it's just for a few moments.
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[Certainly, being broken by Bernkastel isn't something he can't imagine. It's a feeling he has had for a long while, the constant danger, the fact of being walking on a mine field. But without anything really happening there's only so far he can go with his wariness unless he wants to end being paranoid. Thus he will "take care" with her and be as careful as possible. Who knows, if he resists long enough maybe she will leave before anything bad actually happens and if he doesn't give her direct reasons to go after him with thirst for blood all the better.]
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If Ange's chances to be with her brother are really as slim as they seem from her words then she should focus more on being with him now than worrying about Bernkastel or anything else. Every little sister deserves to be able to be with her older brother and take advantage of that chance as much as possible... If Satoko had come... If she ever arrived here and Satoshi was still around, Keiichi would make sure they could be together as much as possible. Even if Takano had still been there. Even if the whole Luceti was involved in chaos, he would do everything in his hand to allow them to be really together since they couldn't be so back at their world.]
Rather than call it heartless I would call it broken hearted. It would seem to suit it more given how sometimes it seems to aim to have that effect on us.
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But, what may happen tomorrow or in a few months doesn't really matter now. We can't live scared the whole time, so do your best to be with your brother. I'll bet for you two to be able to be together for a long time.
Oh, and don't worry about your home world, whatever may be left pending for you or him to do, will remain pending until you return or are sent back. People have returned to their worlds and later been sent back here again and they affirm that we are sent back to the exact moment we were taken from. Handy, isn't it?
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[ Yes, she's still deadpanning, but it isn't full out sarcasm - Keiichi seems pretty decent so far, after all. Although calling him a perfect gentleman might be going a little far in this case. ]
This place is an one in a million chance and a curse, a hell at the same time.. That's right, this truly is the perfect place for that witch to reside. A place where she can just sit back with some popcorn and watch all that misery unfold.. Ah, it's useless, it's all useless.
Don't think I've given up just yet. If I'm given this chance so far, I wouldn't mind going as far as smashing fate or giving up anything else for it to remain like this. If anything, I won't allow cruel fate or this place to tear us apart again. Even if it'd be the last thing I'd do, metaphorically speaking.
I wasn't really busy with anything in particular back home, but yeah, I guess it's still good to know. [ Back home she was just stuck as a toy in the witches' toybox, after all, just waiting until it was her turn again for them to play with her again as they pleased. Finding out the truth of Rokkenjima.. It's all she has left. Her only last task.
And then? What would there be left of 'Ushiromiya Ange' after that..? ]
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[It is, indeed. Even if it comes out from him not wanting to cause pain to any girl ever again, no matter their age or the method.]
Ah, and you can call me Keiichi. Maebara-san, makes me think of my father or when a teacher would scold me at class.
[Or of Oishi coming to ask questions... He can't remember what they would talk about or the general circumstances, but it's an echo scarred in his memory. Oishi's voice calling him "Maebara-sa~n", dragging the end of it like the smoke of a cigarette. It gave him an ominous feeling, as if hearing Oishi calling him meant that something bad had happened, that something bad would happen... It didn't help that the man's voice sounded distorted and twisted, it was him, clear enough, but it felt so different from the Oishi he knew.
He never minded it before, but after coming here, after the echoes began to be more and more usual, he had come to dislike being called that way. He really didn't want or need more things that brought on echoes, ever since Haruki had told him about the "time loop"... It had been like when water stored in a dam filters through a small crack in the wall, little by little, until someone -Haruki- opens the doors and the water comes down pouring, wildly and chaotic.]
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I didn't think you would give up, if I had thought so I wouldn't have told you about it. All little sisters deserve to be able to spend time with their siblings happily. If telling you would have make you depressed and give up on the miraculous chance you've been been given, I wouldn't have said a word. But I do believe you're the type that doesn't back off when faced with obstacles, right? You're more the type to conquer them, so I hope to see you conquer this and become victorious, being able to be with your brother until you're sick of him if that's possible.
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[ Although, well, it's still not as bad as Amakusa and his lame jokes and light flirty talk. God knows how many hearts from simpler girls that guy has broken by now. ]
... Fine, Keiichi it is, then. Feel free to just call me Ange as well, I've never really been a fan of formalities unless it's necessary. I just figured it was the appropriate thing to do when suddenly appearing in a random place.
[ Besides, 'Ushiromiya-san' sort of reminds her of her time at school, of sneering faces and sly giggles, things she'd rather not think of too much given the choice. Even when she tells herself that it doesn't bother her, has never bothered her at all, she's just lying, isn't she? ]
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Just like this place. ]
Yeah, it seems you have pretty good knowledge just from a first impression, Keiichi. As long as the goal in the end is worth it, I don't mind having to cross any sort of obstacle. Obviously I won't bother for some lame goal, but in this case.. I'll definitely overcome anything, no matter the odds.
So.. in that case, I guess I'll have to thank you for rooting for me. I doubt it will change anything, but the thought is appreciated. Especially considering we've only met just now, right?
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I would rather tear apart my throat before breaking anyone's heart... I don't play that kind of games.
[He really doesn't, he doesn't want to play them. But every time someone makes a comment like that about him he can't help to think about Hinamizawa, about Mion and Rena. A year ago he had been pretty convinced that he had a crush on Rena, he knew that Mion liked him or at least had the feeling that she did, but he was terrified of acknowledging it so he played the role of an oblivious fool. Because Mion was his best friend, someone to whom he could tell everything and he didn't want that to change as it would if she were to become a girl, much less a girl he liked. But that would only hurt her and he was too confused and unsure to even voice it outloud properly. He wasn't even a hundred percent sure that he had a crush on Rena, though his time there made him think so.
Now, though, he knows that he loves Rena. But he wonders if it's really a romantic love or if it isn't just a deep friendship like with Mion. The way he feels himself distanced from her and the others from Hinamizawa despite his best intentions and efforts doesn't help... But he really doesn't want to ever break a girl's heart that way. He didn't want girlfriends, just friends, the dream of being an adult with a wife and children could wait until much later.]
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Aah, is that so? Well, I suppose it may be appropriate but in this place there are many people who don't even have last names or never use those so it ends being more comfortable to go on a first name basis. At least for me. Besides it's not as if there's much of status around here or anything, we are at the same situation after all.
[Her comment on his knowledge from a first impression stings guilt in him.]
Ehehe, I don't think that being with your brother is a lame goal. Or spending time with him.
And don't belittle me cheering for you so quickly, it may change more than you think to have others root for you. Even people whom you have just met. That's how miracles are truly brought to live, just one person alone can't do it, despite what others may say.
[More specifically, Bernkastel, though she should know how hard it is to bring forth a miracle after all. Maybe that's why she's the way she is... Partially at least.]
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Some women can be pretty scary once someone tramples on their heart, after all. I'm sure you wouldn't want to meet some untimely end because of that kind of circumstances.
[ Either way, she just brushes off Keiichi's pause. ]
It's just a matter of old habits die hard. My aunt and the people at my school were rather uptight about formalities. I guess a difference like that illustrates enough why I didn't get along too well with any of them.
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There's no such thing.. as a miracle. ]
A miracle? People seem to like to talk about that sort of thing a lot around me lately. I'm pretty picky about calling things miracles though. What sort of thing would you consider to be a miracle in this case?
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[Technically he's being honest here. The sight of Mion... Laughing madly, her distorted face, covered in blood while he lays on the ground, stabbed, trying to keep the doll he had finally gotten for her clean... It's just a vague idea, like many others, he didn't consider her a girl, he didn't think of her feelings and in his selfish attempt to keep their relationship as it was he hurt her, all because of a doll, people suffered, Mion suffered, just because he failed to keep her heart treasured over anything else.]
Geez, it must have been a pain to be with them then. Formalities aren't bad and all but being so uptight about them is... I don't know but it just seems stupid to me. In this age and era when everyone can be on the same standing as the rest if they work hard enough and get lucky, those things just have no value. I get having to be respectful and all but, you can be respectful by using a first name too for example, I mean, western people do it constantly.
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In this case, here in Luceti, from my own experience I think that a miracle would be... It would be us being victorious, free of the prison we are in, without being used as lab rats by anyone and with the capacity to come here and return to our worlds as we please. So everyone could still meet with the friends from other worlds that they made. I know it sounds very fictional and what else, but it can be possible, the question is when.
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[ Ange sort of figures it might have something to do with bad experiences in the past or something, so she doesn't exactly want to question it - just like she tries to keep people out of her own backstory or motivations for now she isn't going to question people on areas where it's irrelevant. ]
Ah, but western people might use < mister > or < miss > instead, right? Just like we'd call someone 'san'. Either way.. you think my family would be less uptight on that sort of stuff since my grandfather was.. quite the fan, to still have an understatement, of western things like that. But I guess in the end none of our parents really liked him enough either way to care for something like that.
[ There's a slight pause where she overthinks his words.. but then she just lets out a very tiny amused sound. ]
Ambitious, right? [ Of course, the miracle she wants isn't a miracle in that sense of the word. For her family to return.. she would have to be able to resurrect the dead or change the past. Both aren't able to happen with just regular effort. ] Then, Keiichi, could you answer a question?
A person falling from a high skyscraper and surviving.. Would you call something like that a miracle or not?
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[Even if it may not work after all. But still it's within the realms of what's possible.]
If your grandfather was such a fan then it's actually logic to think that his children would be opposite from that standing. The more one generation is bended in one direction, the more the following generations will be bended in the opposite direction. Leaving aside personal feelings, if one is fed something specific since they are babies, no matter how good that thing may be for them or whatever, by the time they can make their own decisions they will probably never again touch that kind of food.
There's also the fact that many places and people in Japan are just terribly old fashioned. They let ideas and thoughts from the past live on until the present and try to make them live on even further, no matter how wrong they are. And for them to accept a wind of change is hard, they are almost like mountains so it takes a long time for that to happen or a great strength, otherwise they will just block everything. In that aspect maybe your parents decided that instead of fighting those mountains it was better to be part of them, if only because it's always easier to think that just one person or one family can't change the ways of a whole country.
Then again I don't know your parents so those are mostly pointless theories.
[A small laugh.]
Ah, yeah, well, one has to be a bit ambitious to get things. If we aren't we will end being satisfied with what we have and never bother to try to conquer obstacles around us.
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Well... Certainly for many that would be what they would call a miracle. But I don't think I would, at least not with just that much information. I mean, you can fall from a high skyscraper, but falling doesn't mean you ever get to reach the ground, and so long as you haven't crashed yet it's possible for you to survive as the fall is stopped somehow.
Not only that, but even if you reach the ground, what kills people from falling from high places is the abrupt end of the high speed fall, which their bodies can't withstand. If your body could endure it, you could survive, if you fell in a certain manner you could even avoid serious injuries. There have been cases of people falling from a height and just ending injured, to various degrees of severity, and people who have just tripped as they walked and died from just that fall. Either way, surviving that would be mostly impossible, or almost impossible, but not absolutely impossible using humans' usual perception, so I wouldn't call it a miracle. Besides as I said, a true miracle is something attained by several people working together, one person alone can't produce a miracle.
[A pause as he remembers something. "Magician of words" had Mion said, not just her, hadn't he heard it other times? People saying that his way with words was almost magical or something like that. Of course that alone didn't bring forth a miracle, but it served to give a push for it to happen.]
Though I suppose that one person alone is capable of producing a magic that could be used to later bring forth a miracle when combined with others.
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