2026-03-29: No Time To Grieve
- Cutscene: No Time To Grieve
- Cast: Niko Kirisaki
- Where: Yongen-Jaya - Back Alleys
- OOC Date: 2026-03-29
- IC Date: October 17th, 2012
- Summary: Niko Kirisaki hears of what happened to Tatsuya Sudou, and proceeds to break the stages of grief speedrun record.
Outside of the Takemi Medical Clinic, Niko stretches her arms out over her head. How one can miss such a simple gesture, when you haven't been able to do it for so long. Three weeks of healing may be on the short side for recovery to this degree from even a minor fracture, but it sure felt like forever. If nothing else, this body of hers is good for that much. A few experimental punches to the air are plenty to convince her that she's in good enough shape to return to action.
She mentally debates the best way to celebrate while on her way back to the station, when her phone starts to play the peppy ringtone of a popular anime OP. Ducking into a quiet side street, she quickly makes her way through to a nearby dead-end alley that seems private enough for what she knows might be 'work-related', before finally answering.
"Yo, Jin-chan! 'Sup? Arm's all good, sooo if you got something for me--"
Niko's smile gradually melts into confusion as she listens to the other side of the line, before she chuckles. "Haha, good one. Who're you trying to fool? Ojisan can't die!"
Things that would kill the Joker Killer just... don't. It's because he has a job he needs to do, Niko had reasoned. From what she'd been able to piece together from Sudou's ramblings, he is the instrument meant to restore the world to the way it should be. He has a higher purpose, transcending mortality, couldn't die before completing his task even if he wanted to. Jin's got to be pulling her leg here.
"Come ooon, what are you talking about? You can stop now, I'm not falling for it!"
A joke is one thing, but the level of insistence quickly begins to annoy her, cheerfulness soon replaced by a deep frown.
"Ah, geez, enough already! You can't be that stupid, don't even pretend. Whatever your 'information' says - it's wrong. He's just going to pop up again when you least expect it, he always does. You know it, I know it, the world knows it."
Niko's free hand curls into a fist, anger building with every following word she hears. Until finally, it bursts.
"What the fuck do you MEAN, Jin?! Are you TRYING to piss me off? First that whole revenge bit for something I already got plenty revenge for at the time, and now this? --No, you listen to me, I can handle my own business, alright? Apparently I have to, you said this was 'information', so you weren't there to actually see what happened to Ojisan. Where were you, huh? Where were ANY of you? I get hurt one time and nobody else steps up to handle what's really important? Why am I the only one who cares about helping him?! It's like you don't even want a better life!"
She takes a moment to breathe, listening to the loud voice by her ear without further argument. Obviously a reaction in anger was going to provoke one back. But, in spite of everything, and the fact that Jin would never admit it... she knows that he cares. He was probably just trying to look out for her, with what he did to Shinjiro. But then, what is he trying to accomplish now, trying so hard to convince her that the Joker Killer really, truly, definitively died?
...No. It couldn't be. Is he actually... telling her the truth? But, if he is, that would mean...
Her demeanor changes abruptly, the color draining from her face. She stands frozen and quiet, even through Jin's voice repeatedly calling out her name through the phone.
"...I heard you," she finally says, far more quietly than before. "But... there has to be some mistake. He told me... we were going to have so much fun together. He promised. That's why... that's why this can't be true. It just can't be. Because, if it was, that would mean I... that all of us are... ...stuck..."
She should have been there. If only she hadn't been careless enough to have gotten injured when she did. If she'd visited the doctor just a little earlier, or chosen to ignore the advice to give her arm rest. There'd have been more she could have done. She could have made a difference. She could have prevented the worst case scenario from coming to pass.
Please. Any gods who might be out there. Let me go back. Give me a chance to make this right.
Her silent prayer goes unanswered. It's too late now. It was already too late to begin with, for this reality. Once something happens, you can't turn back the clock. The only hope is... to escape. To a place where it didn't happen. And the door to that option may just have been closed forever.
Slowly, Niko sinks through her knees, losing all her energy. Though the voice on the other end is still talking, the phone slips from her hand, clattering to the ground. She speaks aloud to herself, now, rather than anyone else.
"...Then, it's no use. There's no more point to trying, is there? If I can't escape this world, then I'll have to keep being this... this... mockery of myself. I don't want that... I never wanted any of this!"
She casts her eyes upward to the sky, a tear running down her cheek as she demands answers from gods who refuse to answer.
"Why? What did I do to deserve this? What am I being punished for? Why did you have to take even my hope away? Without him... what am I supposed to do now?"
To her surprise, that last question receives an answer. Or maybe she just imagined it. There's little difference whether it was divine inspiration or the regular kind, when all you needed was an answer, any answer, in order to keep going. Slowly, her head lowers back down, and she wipes away that tear, expression settling into neutrality.
"...That's right. He did say it. That he was just a means to an end. A replacement, besides. Just a fake, only a tool, not the source. So what is? The True Joker? Or is he ultimately also just a tool?"
A hand goes to her chin, grin slowly forming as her way of speaking returns more to her usual. "Silly Niko-chan. Did you really think it would be that easy, breaking free from a false reality? You thought one guy could do all that for you? Get real. You've been looking at this all wrong. You're not someone who just sits back until other people make the changes you want happen, not here. Take some initiative! You already know what it is that's really gonna get you there, don't you? Hard work and guts! ...Also, information, but mostly hard work and guts."
Thinking about information calls to mind one person. It's strange, she could swear she can hear his voice right now. ...wait a second.
She collects her phone from the ground, bringing it back to her ear as she gets back to her feet. "...Jin-chan? You're still there? ...Yeah, yeah, I'm fine! I'm totally cool, don't worry about it. Listen, I'll call you back, okay? I've got some thinking to do." She hangs up without listening to any objections.
Niko closes her eyes, taking a deep breath before reopening them, determination shining in her eyes.
"Alright, world. You wanna get serious? Let's get serious."