Audience- Yoji Uruha

[holyspirits]

Comments

[holyspirits]

[ they shrug. ]

This place is more about you, not us. It was just... [ sort of their way of saying they kind of understand, but they're also a little awkward, so. ] Never mind.

[kumeyuri]

[a little shrug back]

If you ever want to talk about it, I don't mind hearing it out. [not like he doesn't already spend every day thinking about his own FAILURES and DEAD FRIENDS.] But you don't have to.

[holyspirits]

If I'm being completely honest, this kind of job is a little different for me. Usually I don't get this personal. Not that I mind entirely, but I would rather hear about you anyway.

[kumeyuri]

What kind of job do you usually do? [completely moves past zuriel saying they don't get this personal usually] ... There's not much to say about me.

[holyspirits]

I had about four or five I was doing before I started this one. Some of them were community service-type jobs. Others were animal care. Others were customer service. The kind where you have to make sure everyone's beer is topped off and be met with the reality you're dealing with a table of lousy tippers. [ dryly. ] This job is a little more intensive, but you're not the worst people I've dealt with.

[ they are not going to fully believe there's nothing to say about uruha, but it's okay. they can ease into it. ]

[kumeyuri]

[he raises an eyebrow.]

You kept yourself busy. Money issues, or an aversion to idle hands?

[holyspirits]

Yeah. [ the answer's both. ] ...things are expensive, so it's better to work where I can. But I liked some of those jobs better than others.

[kumeyuri]

Yeah? Which ones?

[holyspirits]

All of them but the waitress job. [ very helpful, thank you. ] But that one had flexible hours and paid the most out of all of them, so I kept it.

[kumeyuri]

Yeah, gotta make concessions in life. Money can make up for a lot, at least.

[says man who has not had to worry about it for a while]

[holyspirits]

[ trade them, maybe. ]

So I've heard. [ they also sound annoyed about that? for some reason. ] Money isn't the answer to everything either though. Just because you have it doesn't mean you can just throw it away on whatever you want.

[kumeyuri]

Mm-hmm. ... As with most things, it's just another tool to make life easier.

[holyspirits]

[ ...hm... ]

Tell me something. What else do you think would make life easier if you had it?

[kumeyuri]

[he thinks about this for a moment.]

More strength.

[holyspirits]

Physical, mental, or emotional?

[ important distinction. ]

[kumeyuri]

Physical.

[uruha's confident in his mental and emotional strength (when it counts) thanks

not that he's unconfident in his combat ability given that he's a literal war hero but]

[holyspirits]

And how would you use that strength? [ he is a swordsman. would it just make him swing his sword better? they have zero concept of what this might mean for him. ]

[kumeyuri]

If I was stronger—as strong as my teacher, at least—there would've been fewer lives lost in the conflict.

[including his own, maybe.]

[holyspirits]

[ oh, now we're getting somewhere. they lead him into a different shop. this one seems to be selling coffee mugs. ]

"The conflict"?

[kumeyuri]

[idly browses through mugs]

Stuff back home. A lot of people wanted us dead, and a lot of other people got caught up in that.

[holyspirits]

A war? Or something else? [ what was happening in your home, sir. ]

[kumeyuri]

Not a war—not yet, at least. [thinks about ffs samura you better keep your word about not letting the hishaku use kumeyuri for evil or he's going to come back to life to kick your ass.] More of a particularly powerful criminal organization.

[holyspirits]

So how do you go about dismantling an organization like that? Even something that powerful has holes in it somewhere.

[kumeyuri]

Didn't get far enough to worry about that. [before he died.] We barely know anything about them as it is.

[holyspirits]

So that's a reason you would want to go back, then? [ they don't want to assume, they're mostly prodding to see what he has to say. ] Where did they even come from?