2026-06-29: Is Death No 'Thing' At All?
- Cutscene: Is Death No 'Thing' At All?
- Cast: Minato Arisato, Pharos
- Where: Iwatodai - SEES Dorm (Dark Hour)
- OOC Date: 2026-06-29
- IC Date: Sun, Dec 02 2012
- Summary: When he's not leading SEES's missions, the Dark Hour still claims Minato. It does not claim him alone.
OST: Ghost - Witch Image https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMwmEcKVgtM
Minato sits: and he is alone, in his room, as the green light of the Dark Hour filters through.
"You're troubled," says the boy sitting beside him, dressed in prisoner's fatigues.
"Just wondering," Minato replies, as he brushes his bangs out of his eyes. They fall right back over them, shadowing him again.
The boy's in his shadow, too. "What about?" He asks, with distant companionship, as his legs swing against the bed.
"I don't know how people decide who they are."
"Don't worry," the boy says, sitting criss-cross on the bed behind him. He's always been behind him. "I don't know what I am, either."
"What... like a 'thing'," Minato supposes, looking to the window and the moon above.
"When I think about it," the boy says, leaning against Minato's back, "it scares me. Do you know what that's like?"
"Mm," Minato hums vague agreement, leaning forward, as he lets his elbows rest on his knees and his hands fall between his legs like a marionette with strings cut.
"But you're not a puppet," the boy says, even though he shouldn't have responded to something as abstract as the way his thoughts flavour the set dressing. "You're... different. I feel like we're the same, but maybe I'm just being selfish. What do you think?"
"We're the same," Minato says, atonally. He looks up, and the boy's standing in front of him. "... same haircut. After they died, I took the scissors and cut my hair... but since I was still young, I didn't do a very good job."
"You don't like it?" The boy asks, with a touch of anxiety.
"I like it," the young man replies. "It's 'human'."
"I wonder what that's like?"
"Me, too."
For a long time, they're silent. Minato looks past the boy, and the boy looks into Minato, and they are together.
The boy's sitting beside Minato. He's always been at his side. "You're different," he says, again. "There's so much potential inside you. When I'm here, sometimes, I can even forget the end's coming."
"Maybe the end isn't the end," Minato suggests. "Even when we die, we leave ourselves behind for the people living on."
"But what happens when the last person dies?" The boy wonders.
"Ah," Minato says, his gaze distant to the wall. He realises, at his periphery, that the boy is looking out the window. He doesn't remember seeing him walk there.
"I think you'd better invite that girl to Christmas pretty soon," the boy says. "The frozen stillness makes me feel so... it's hard to say, but I'm not sure you'll get another chance."
"You sound like Iori-kun," Minato reflects, numb.
"He one of your friends, right?"
"Mm."
The boy is facing Minato, framed by the moon. He did not turn. "Does that mean... I'm your friend, too?"
"Sure," and he is still numb, as cold as the winter which bore him.
"If we're friends, I need to introduce myself," the boy says, hands clasped behind his back. "That's what she told me. So... my name is Pharos."
Minato looks up, and for the first time, his eyes focus. "She... who?"
"Your sister," Pharos says, with distant cheer. "Didn't you wonder where I'd gone, when I'm not here at night?"
"I see," Minato says, and he is not so roused that emotion reaches his voice or eyes. "... hey... when did we all meet each other?"
"I can't know something like that before you find the Hierophant," Pharos says, with regret. He's lying behind Minato, on his bed. "Maybe once you've taken care of it, more of my memories will come back. I really want to help you... but I don't remember."
"Sometimes I feel like I do," Minato says. "But it hurts."
"Even far away, I felt like I could tell... please don't push yourself too hard," Pharos says, and there is concern there, too, in his distant mien.
"But... my sister," Minato insists. "Something happened to her, I think."
"Did something happen?" Pharos tilts his head.
Minato's head shakes, just slightly, strands of his hair scattering along his face. "... I don't really remember."
What darkness lies at the hearts of their minds?
"If it's too painful to remember," Pharos urges, where he's standing before him, "it's okay to forget."
"Is that all right?" Minato asks.
"I'm not sure," Pharos admits. "But I thought that woman had a nice idea. Maybe forgetting... is also 'human'."
"Then I guess you know what it's like," Minato says.
"Maybe I'm starting to," Pharos supposes.
When Minato next looks to him, he's gone.