[ HE MAY BE RUDE, but he isn't that rude. ]

I think it should be fine by tomorrow or at least by Saturday. I don't want to make it worse, though.

Yeah, no, that makes sense. And that's a relief.

Do you want to wait until after that to talk about it, then? I don't know how much you like mobile typing...

Oh, yeah, I'm fine with it! Most of my conversations back home are texts anyway.

[ Just... Pauses to look at him. ]

Are these stupid murder games the most socialization you get?

What? No, people just text instead of doing voice calls most of the time these days, and I'm active on social media so there's a lot of back and forth through text there too.

I mean, I do that plenty too, but I can talk to people over text any time from anywhere. You have to be in the same place at the same time to talk in person, so obviously there are going to be fewer opportunities to do that.

[ he does, in fact, have the most friends and most active social life out of all the major characters in his canon... the baseline is just not that high... ]

Why am I even arguing this with you, we're supposed to be talking about your shitty trip, not engaging in a critique of modern communication methods or my social life.

[ He looks at Totty and thinks about it, then concedes. No judgment as long as the guy is not a NEET. ]

Rupert killed my mother.

[ sweats and hopes he doesn't end up memsharing something that makes him look like too big of a loser...

looks down at the text. ]

Oh. Sorry. [ ... ] What was the context for that?

[ i hope so desperately ]

Nothing. He just killed my mother and I felt that I needed to have revenge. It was strange since I didn't doubt it or anything else. This is what it's like to have your memories tampered with?

I had a regular office job before that and it was strange, too. I didn't recognize my coworkers, but Jonas was my boss.

Office jobs are really a recurring theme here, I guess...

But yeah, that kind of thing happens on a lot of these trips, it seems like. You land in this different life and just accept that it's real, and that all the people you know who end up in NPC roles are supposed to be there even if it makes no sense at all.

[ this is also stuff his anime kind of does, so... ]

Is that how you got hurt? Trying to get revenge on Rupert-kun?

It's all for entertainment and torture? It really feels like our lives are insignificant and a joke here.

[ Todomatsu, your stupid anime baka life. Anyway, he doesn't like it. ]

Yeah, granted I should have killed both Strohl and Rupert, but reality distorted and warped so my shot missed. It did strange things, like rewinding, pausing, fast-forwarding, then before I knew it we were in the middle of something. Like a hub or portals that showed different realities.

I still wanted to kill Rupert at the time though.

[ yeah his life is insignificant and a joke everywhere ]

Wow, that really sounds like some action movie stuff. We were pretty much just fighting with office supplies in ours.

[ this m*trix-ass shit vs. them trying to staple a guy... ]

Was Strohl-kun also in on what happened to your mother or was he just in the way?

All right. It'll sound silly, but I don't know how Rupert killed my mother. Strohl was just there when I was trying to kill Rupert. It seems like when you're brainwashed into thinking something, you just skip over all of the gaps in your backstory?

Manwol told me about your office trip. I think it's definitely worse than what I went through, but maybe it's because I'd prefer the office to stay unassuming and relatively peaceful.

[ no violence in the office please ]