week 6, saturday

[digestif]

[ they find him in the parlor after trial, because of course they do. After that utter debacle, they need to talk.

When they see him, their expression is close to anger - it's certainly more emotional than they usually let themself look - but, in the end, it's even closer to misery than that. They're so frustrated by all of this. ]

Was that really the best you could do, Ishikirimaru-san?

Comments

[ritualization]

...I know. Reasonably, I know that.

[it's why he acted, and while he still carries that guilt, he's not sure he fully regrets taking that action.]

But it is still a difficult choice to make, for me. I know many of the others would have had an easier time here.

[digestif]

[ at that, for the first time here tonight, Mizuki manages a smile, albeit a bitter one. ]

I never said it was an easy choice, Ishi-san. The fact that you're having so much trouble with it just shows that you're a good person.

[ the fact that they're so willing says the opposite about them, perhaps, but they're fine with being the bad guy if it helps people. That's what they decided. ]

I'm impressed, you know. As old as you are, and a soldier, too - a weapon, even - and the weight of a life is still so heavy on your shoulders. If more people here were like you, I'm sure we wouldn't be in this position right now.

[ritualization]

...I think it may say the opposite, honestly. Even someone like me has found themselves willing to take lives in the course of this competition; there is nothing to say that things would have been much different, in the end, though the number of bodies may certainly have been lower.

[his sigh is heavy, at that thought.]

Though there is still a chance that you are right. Either way... this is still the position we find ourselves in, and we still must find a way to try to ensure the best ending we can.

[digestif]

Like you said, this is the position that we're in. You can't blame yourself for what you've been pushed into doing.

[ maybe they think he could have tried harder to protect himself and what he'd done, but that's all they're faulting him for. ]

We'll be done soon.