standalonehuman | Recolle IC Inbox

Way easier.

I'll be okay. I don't want to get dramatic about this. She's wonderful, but it's better that Retrospec is out of her life.

Yeah. If you need to talk about it though, I'm happy to listen.

[since he currently understands the whole unrequited love thing]

I just. I might be able to handle this if we'd broken up for a real reason. Or really broken up, instead of THIS.

She looked at me, and she saw me instead of the cop. That doesn't happen with anybody else.

It's like having a light switched off.

Having a job with such a public 'face' is hard. The moment people find out they balk and think you're 'on job' 24/7.

Okay, that wasn't 100% fair because Koutarou. But you know what I mean. But you're right. Hell, even Ardyn falls into it.

I can know it was real. Right? It's okay to remember it, even if Retrospec wiped it out.

[yes, Togusa, don't forget about your bff]

Yes, It was real. It will always be real. So remember it all you want.

[he wants to say 'Retrospec can't take your memory of it,' but they both know that's probably not true]

[Togusa is very not okay for a few moments, gripping at his own arm tightly to keep from crying. He'd been burying all of it down, trying to just keep pushing on with work to not think about her and what she meant to him. It's one-sided now, obsessive, inappropriate, he cannot continue on this path. But just because it's over doesn't mean that it meant nothing. Tatsuo's words are a comfort that Togusa hadn't let anyone give to him.]

Tatsuo. Thank you.

And here, I was supposed to be taking care of you, hunh?

[and this is why Tatsuo is a hugglepuff... i mean hufflepuff]

I'm fine, Hitori. It's weird, but I'm fine.

[mostly because he's trying reallllly hard not to think about it too much lolololol because if he does, then he'll start getting a bit freaked out over the fact he's basically been implanted with someone else's feelings ~~good practice for next month lmao~~]

If this is fine, our coping mechanisms are starting to get really messed up. It is okay to not be fine, you just remembered getting shot. Hell, you're still recovering from it.

[Bring it back to the physical, maybe Tatsuo can deal with that part easier than, well, the emotional. He's thinking of Koutarou again, his friend's memory of an entire life spent with another woman. Of course this is going to keep happening to other people.]

As far as I can tell, it's been an addition rather than a substitution. My own feelings for the people in my life are still here. As far as I can tell.

[shit... does he need to make a checklist of important people? it's one thing to keep track of the new memories and something else entirely to try to keep track of the old]

At least this time I get to use my sick leave instead of my vacation!

[~~yes, yes it is going to keep happening~~]

[FUUUUUCK. Thanks, Tatsuo, Togusa hadn't even thought of that.]

From everything we've seen so far, nothing from our lives here has been forgotten. Remember, we've got to keep something to revert to if they lose track of us. So, I don't think your feelings and memories for your friends are going to go anywhere.

[And no, Togusa only has the barest, most flimsy proof for that idea, but he will cling to that proof as hard as he can.]

That's what I keep telling myself. The fact they have to have something to reset us to. Just in case.

[wow this is getting depressing]

Anyway. You want to know the wildest thing I learned from this recent batch of memories? Or more of confirmed. I've been suspecting this for a while, but couldn't make the full connection until recently.

[Yes please a more lighthearted change of topic before Togusa goes for that sake bottle in the fridge?]

Oh? Definitely want to hear this.

[Togusa could always bring the sake over]

The guy I mentioned earlier. Danno Tatsuya. He's all over Ryuuzaki's memories.
Which makes sense now, since they've known each other since childhood.

So, turns out he's yakuza. And not some grunt. He's like a third tier lieutenant of one of the major Tokyo clans.

[They'll need it more in two weeks.]

WOW. From childhood friends to this. One hell of a case of 'two paths diverge in the wood.'

You're right, that wins for wildest. So, what the hell? What does it make their friendship as he remembers it?

[That's why you get a new bottle in two weeks.]

Two paths diverged indeed. Honestly, they're partners in something. That white cell phone I got back months ago? It's Ryuuzaki's direct contact with Danno. They're looking for someone together.

[I don't have a drinking problem, drinking is how I cope with my Retrospec problem.]

Ah, that puzzle piece slips into place at last. So, it's something too important to the both of them, they're willing to overlook where the other one ended up in life. Or their friendship's too important. Or both. Get a cop working with a yakuza, and, actually more surprisingly, a yakuza working with a cop.

Any clue who the someone is?

[Or their careers were themselves a means to an end. But Tatsuo isn't ready to tell that particular tidbit just yet.]

Sort of. They know the person, or persons, belongs to a group called the Gold Watch Syndicate. Bunch of people who were given gold watches because they graduated at the top from top schools in Japan. Is that a thing in our Japan, do you know?

Recolle IC Inbox

Re: 1/25

Re: 1/25

Re: 1/25

Re: 1/25

Re: 1/25

Re: 1/25

Re: 1/25

Re: 1/25

Re: 1/25

Re: 1/25

Re: 1/25

Re: 1/25

Re: 1/25

Re: 1/25

Re: 1/25

Re: 1/25

Re: 1/25

Re: 1/25