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“Hey Spirit, just out of curiosity, how do you feel about Mutou?” Akira asked, wiping down the counter. Spirit blinked, looking up at him and raising an eyebrow in question. “I mean, you’ve gotta have some thoughts, right? Now that you know that you’re two different people and all.”
Spirit frowned, fiddling with his pencil. “I....Are we? Two different people? I know we’re separate souls, thanks to.....certain events, but I don’t know who I am. Yuugi.....he gave me form. Purpose. He’s the reason I exist, but....I can’t help but resent him for it.” He scowled, shoving his homework away and glaring at the table. “He’s got a presence in this world, and I’m just the tagalong. My friends, they think I’m him. They think I’m some sort of mask he puts on, instead of my own person, and I hate it!” he snarled, eyes flashing. Akira eyed him carefully, ready to intervene if needed. He hadn’t expected this to touch such a raw nerve. He really should’ve learned from his mistake in asking Mutou about the Puzzle; nothing good ever came of innocuous questions with these two.
“Do they think you’re him, or do they think he’s you?” Akira pointed out. In for a penny, in for a pound, right? The Spirit was already angry, it’s not like it could get any worse. “I mean, they meet you first, right?” he added.
“No, they definitely think I’m him. Yuugi.....he’s got a reputation around school.” The Spirit snorted derisively, rolling his eyes. “First, he’d had the reputation as the loser game otaku. Then he finished the Puzzle, and people started going ‘missing’. Now people think he’s a schizo delinquent one bully away from snapping. It doesn’t help that our personalities are just so different...” He sighed, rubbing a thumb absently against a corner of the Puzzle. “The point is, everyone at least knows of him. So when I show up, they always comment on how I’m so different from what they expect. They just see Yuugi, not me.” He growled angrily, clenching his fingers on the Puzzle like he wanted to throw it at someone. Honestly, he probably did. Eager to avoid death by blunt force trauma, Akira wisely shut up and quit poking the bear. The cafe was silent for a bit, the only sound the quiet rush of the sink as Akira continued to wash the dishes.
He was scrubbing at a particularly stubborn spot of burnt-on curry when the Spirit spoke again, startling him badly enough that his glasses almost fell into the water. “I know it’s not his fault. Yuugi didn’t ask for this. All he wanted were friends, someone who’d never betray him......” He sighed, hugging himself around the middle. “The Puzzle doesn’t have wish magic. All it has is me, me and the darkness I can’t control. Any friends or wishes granted.....they’re his doing. He’s afraid of me....I try so hard to protect him, his friends, and his innocence.....but I think I just keep making things worse. Maybe I should quit trying to have a life of my own. Maybe then he’d stop crying whenever I’m in control.” Akira didn’t know what to say to that, so he just kept quiet, peeking up from behind his curry pot. His eyes widened when he noticed tears dripping into the forgotten coffee cup, panicking for a second before realizing that the Spirit, like Ryuji, probably wouldn’t appreciate him pointing out that he’s seen them crying.
“Have you told him any of this....?” Akira asked. The Spirit looked up quickly, one of his limp bangs smacking him in the face. “Mutou, I mean. Does he have any idea this is how you feel?” Akira added nervously, like the hole he’d dug wasn’t deep enough already.
“I...no? I’ve never told him?” The Spirit looked absolutely gobsmacked, like Akira had hit him in the face with a 2 by 4, instead of just asking a question.
“Then how do you expect him to know what you’re feeling?” Akira pointed out. “You’ve said yourself, he can’t read your thoughts. He only knows what you tell him, nothing more. So isn’t it unfair to him to expect that he knows what you’re feeling?”
“B-But, how would I—?”
“A letter? Email? A video maybe? Things exist to record messages, Spirit-kun, you just have to use them.” Now that he wasn’t fearing for his life, Akira felt comfortable pointing out how much of an idiot the Spirit was being. Honestly, it was like fielding the MakoHaru relationship drama all over again. “Communication makes for healthy relationships, dude. EVEN friendly relationships I see that hand,” he said, cutting off the Spirit when he raised a hand to interrupt. He sighed, turning off the water and drying his hands on a towel. “Look, I have a video camera upstairs. It’s dead right now, and it’s getting late, but come back like next week or so and I’ll help you record messages for him, alright? I’d recommend setting aside a few hours though, I’ve got the feeling it’s gonna be a long conversation,” he said tiredly, setting the pot on the dish rack to dry.
The Spirit nodded mutely, still looking a bit like he’d just been bitchslapped with a brick. He started gathering his things, bringing the dirty cup to the counter apologetically. Akira felt a bit guilty, it was like watching a kicked puppy, but he had to stand firm. Indecisive Akira couldn’t waffle out on this, he had to be the Firm Leader Joker right now, or the Spirit would never listen. So he watched silently as the Spirit gathered his homework and leave, raising an eyebrow as he paused at the door.
“Kurusu.....thanks.” Akira barely had time to nod before the Spirit was rushing away, the tinkling of the bell the only sign he’d been there at all.
Swords Rank UP! Rank IX: You can now defeat [Mutou’s Shadow] in Mementos.