Yeah. Doesn't even make any sense. He wasn't involved in any of the shit that he was mad about. Nothing more evil than going after friends and loved ones instead of the person you're mad at.
[That bothers him for a second, in a distracted, frustrated way. But.]
That's what I wanted to talk to you about. Uh. You being in the dark.
Yeah. Don't even know what to do with that, except wish I'd beat him harder.
[That's the ugliest part of it. But it's not why he's here.]
I wanted to show you something. Because he's your friend, but there's shitty rules, and there's some things he can't tell you about himself. And maybe I should stay out of it, what's between you guys. But if it was one of my friends, I'd want to hear this.
[He takes out a phone from his pocket - in fact, it's one of the missing iPhones from the Apple store. There's a password on it, which he punches in quickly. And then he opens some kind of recording app, and presses play.
The sound is muffled, and low quality, and interrupted by static. But it's Akira's voice.]
It's easy to say "we weren't exactly the ones doing the killing" when you don't have a gun to your head telling you to "Erase someone this week or we Erase you." We never asked for this. . . . I don't give a shit about winning, [static]. And neither does my one remaining teammate. Neither of us have ever wanted to kill anyone. We still don't. I wasn't lying about that. This Game-- This Game is bullshit. It's been bullshit since the very beginning. The only thing I have ever wanted to do, from the moment I woke up here, was find a way to break it. And from. . . the moment I learned it was possible to save the Erased, that became my goal, too. I'm not here because I want to turn a loss into a draw. If my team's loss would save the Erased and give everyone their second chance, I'd throw myself in front of your bullet in an instant. So long as. . . Someone was there to partner with him, so he didn't fall with me. I'm here because the Players and, most importantly, the Erased, don't deserve this. [static]
[He turns the recording off.]
He's not allowed to talk about this shit, from what I can tell. But. The Reapers, the other team, they caught him, and had this conversation. Izaya recorded it, and passed it along to me and Taako. And from what I can tell, everyone who knew about them - it's from getting the recording, or otherwise being told the truth by someone other than the two of them.
[Yusuke listens to the recording, a stricken expression on his face. It hurts, to think Akira went through all this... But it also explains a great deal.]
...I see.
I didn't know the truth until last week, when Akira erased Hortensia. He told me what little he could after the fact, and the extent to which he had deceived me. Even then, I suppose I... naively believed he would find a way to avoid killing anyone... That was my own foolish mistake.
[For better or worse, Yusuke is loyal to Akira more than anyone, even if that trust came close to breaking yesterday.]
He coulda avoided it, sure. He coulda avoided it by leaving it for his partner to do, even though she hates it just as much. Or they both coulda refused, and died, and screwed over all of the Erased in the process.
[He gets that. He's not showing Yusuke this because he's wrong to be angry, or he thinks he doesn't trust Akira. He's showing him because Akira can't or won't fully defend himself. And someone should defend him - at least to the people who care about him. They should know how much he tried.]
I see. His actions make far more sense, in that light...
[Yusuke crosses his arms, and sighs.]
Even in our own world, before any of this, Akira has had a difficult life. He always does nothing more than stand up for the sake of others and do the right thing, but he always attracts wicked and cruel people, who harbour powerful grudges... And he becomes forced into terrible situations from which there seems to be no escape.
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[That bothers him for a second, in a distracted, frustrated way. But.]
That's what I wanted to talk to you about. Uh. You being in the dark.
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[That strikes too much of a personal chord for him, makes him angrier than anything. Mary never should have been dragged into that. Then he frowns--]
Ah, yes? What of it?
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[That's the ugliest part of it. But it's not why he's here.]
I wanted to show you something. Because he's your friend, but there's shitty rules, and there's some things he can't tell you about himself. And maybe I should stay out of it, what's between you guys. But if it was one of my friends, I'd want to hear this.
[He takes out a phone from his pocket - in fact, it's one of the missing iPhones from the Apple store. There's a password on it, which he punches in quickly. And then he opens some kind of recording app, and presses play.
The sound is muffled, and low quality, and interrupted by static. But it's Akira's voice.]
It's easy to say "we weren't exactly the ones doing the killing" when you don't have a gun to your head telling you to "Erase someone this week or we Erase you." We never asked for this. . . . I don't give a shit about winning, [static]. And neither does my one remaining teammate. Neither of us have ever wanted to kill anyone. We still don't. I wasn't lying about that. This Game-- This Game is bullshit. It's been bullshit since the very beginning. The only thing I have ever wanted to do, from the moment I woke up here, was find a way to break it. And from. . . the moment I learned it was possible to save the Erased, that became my goal, too. I'm not here because I want to turn a loss into a draw. If my team's loss would save the Erased and give everyone their second chance, I'd throw myself in front of your bullet in an instant. So long as. . . Someone was there to partner with him, so he didn't fall with me. I'm here because the Players and, most importantly, the Erased, don't deserve this. [static]
[He turns the recording off.]
He's not allowed to talk about this shit, from what I can tell. But. The Reapers, the other team, they caught him, and had this conversation. Izaya recorded it, and passed it along to me and Taako. And from what I can tell, everyone who knew about them - it's from getting the recording, or otherwise being told the truth by someone other than the two of them.
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...I see.
I didn't know the truth until last week, when Akira erased Hortensia. He told me what little he could after the fact, and the extent to which he had deceived me. Even then, I suppose I... naively believed he would find a way to avoid killing anyone... That was my own foolish mistake.
[For better or worse, Yusuke is loyal to Akira more than anyone, even if that trust came close to breaking yesterday.]
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[He gets that. He's not showing Yusuke this because he's wrong to be angry, or he thinks he doesn't trust Akira. He's showing him because Akira can't or won't fully defend himself. And someone should defend him - at least to the people who care about him. They should know how much he tried.]
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Are you referring to Undine?
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[Yusuke crosses his arms, and sighs.]
Even in our own world, before any of this, Akira has had a difficult life. He always does nothing more than stand up for the sake of others and do the right thing, but he always attracts wicked and cruel people, who harbour powerful grudges... And he becomes forced into terrible situations from which there seems to be no escape.
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[He gets that. He didn't think much of Akira, when he only suspected. Figured he was fake, playing everyone. But...]
That makes sense. Key word is seems. We're getting out of this. We're getting him out of this.
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Thank you for looking out for him. Even when I had no idea he was in trouble, it seems he's had people to help him.
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[Sorry, but. Ruffling his hair, affectionately.]
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