[literally as todomatsu is talking luke's looking up the profiles of everyone who was in the space setting in a sudden flurry, while simultaneously trying to take notes in a different app.]

Ichiban, Rosamund, spaceship--Anise and Guy were there? And a rappig...

[that's terrible. that fucking sucks! his face says as much.]

Do you know what happened to them? Was everything okay in the end? Did Guy say anything about Ion's win? Did he tell Anise I'm okay?

[so much for telling what he knows!!!]

About what?

[ he remembers ion was the green-haired kid anise guarded, but... ]

Um, we didn't really talk about their world all that much, so I'm not really sure... They both lived through to the end of what happened there, though.

[ decides not to mention the fact that anise had a roommate named luke who randomly died from a medical condition the first week... ]

[??????]

...Guy didn't mention any other...

[what. what to call it.]

...weird killing contests like this?

No... So it was probably just a different version of him? Ichiban and I were both in another one too, supposedly, but we don't have any memories of that one.

[ no you are from that one and this is the one you have no memories of ]

[well

whatever further question he was going to follow up with has now been derailed, as luke mentally falls face-first into the yawning void that holds the concept of infinite au timelines.]

Different... version?

[it's asked with clear trepidation, brow crinkled.]

Mm, like... branching timelines, I guess? Like being pulled into one of these things the first time caused reality to branch into one timeline where you had to go deal with all this murder crap and another where you went on with life as normal.

[ this is just tox2 ]

One of my brothers was apparently in one of them too, but I don't remember him ever leaving home and he never mentioned anything like it happening to him. So I think that must have been a different timeline from mine.

[except we don't have a murdergame where competitors have to kill everyone in each game








yet

anyway, this is frankly horrifying news. luke isn't entirely sure what to do with this information, either, so he just sort of. stares. as he processes it. before remembering he has to respond like a normal person.]

O...Okay.

[his voice sounds a lot smaller, fainter.]

But they're... safe?

[ he's just like damn I THOUGHT YOU'D BE MORE DESENSITIZED TO THIS STUFF BY NOW SORRY... ]

Yeah! I mean, everyone came back okay at the end anyway, but the two of them never got mixed up in any murders or anything. Ichiban helped look out for Anise-chan a lot too.

[he brightens up CONSIDERABLY at the news of none murders for anise and guy! this is the silver lining he is choosing to cling to in the face of hypothetical space-time concepts and psychological horrors beyond his comprehension.]

Oh, well... that's... that's fine, then.

[probably!

...

he scratches the back of his head, now just regular teen embarrassed. he has tucked the "alternate universes" thing away for now, to be examined at a later date when he really wants to suffer and drown in the ennui of existence and puberty hormones. there's something nearly as important to fixate on, here.]

...Were the memories you saw, uh. Good?

[steeling himself for having had some greatest hits of his brat summer era having been revealed, here.]

I mean, they weren't... bad...? I think there was one where you were eavesdropping on Guy while he was talking to a girl, and one where Anise-chan's dad was getting scammed...

[ and you thought the scam was that you'd never get a good vacation for only 10,000 gald... ]