[Rita shakes her head, skepticism written all over her face.]
Limitations are one thing--we don't have the ingredients here--but dangers? There's nothing dangerous about panacea bottles.
There's definitely something fishy about this... I know he likes dodging explanations, but is he really so lazy that he'd make excuses just so he doesn't have to do any work? That doesn't seem like him... Not when panacea bottles could be really useful.
[If they worked against the poison used in those collars... They could have avoided a lot of trouble.]
[Lazy excuse? If that were the case, Jade would just make a sarcastic comment while wearing that infuriating smile of his. But not only he wasn't smiling, he didn't have much of an expression at all.]
He was definitely uncomfortable. [Maybe Natsuno's projecting, but sudden blankness is his telltale sign of an uncomfortable topic.] Maybe he worried it might go wrong and the new potion won't work? But it's not like anyone would take it without testing first.
[Speaking about it out loud only highlights how much it doesn't add up. Scowling deeper, Natsuno offers another tidbit, seemingly unrelated:] Did he ever mention resurrection, when you were talking about magic?
[This is why it doesn't seem quite right that he'd just be using it as an excuse to be lazy... Something's definitely up, but Rita can't understand how Jade could possibly have hangups over panacea bottles--or their analysis and production.
Rita blinks in confusion at Natsuno's new question, then frowns.]
Resurrection? No...I mean, he mentioned a little about healing magic, but that he couldn't actually use it.
[Her frown deepens, though, as she hasn't forgotten how he let slip that he tried it...to disastrous results, apparently. Still...she's a little skeptical.]
...You think he's tried to...bring someone back from the dead, or something?
...I think so, yeah. He was acting shady when I told him death doesn't stick here. He was trying to hold back, but -
[I tried, Jade said before he cut himself off and apologized. Natsuno didn't press further, because he had secrets of his own to keep, but he hasn't forgotten.]
The other package he got had a doll. I asked if it was his kid's, but he told me it belonged to his sister. He looked pretty upset about it, so I thought maybe she died when she was little. And now that you say it...
[She hadn't actually expected Natsuno to answer so sincerely with an affirmative. She still isn't entirely convinced...until he mentions the doll, and Jade's sister.]
Wait...if this is all true, then...
[Combined with what she knows, it's starting to paint a...pretty suspicious picture. Rita looks Natsuno in the eye.]
...It's not just that. From what he let slip to me, he might've been the one responsible for her death.
[...Rita isn't usually so into gossip, but how can she turn down these juicy Jade deets? (Also, what the hell, Jade.)]
Forbidden artes... What's that old Four-Eyes been up to...?
[Why do these old men always have some fishy secret in their pasts... Rita would really like to not think about trying to raise the dead, thanks!! But at the same time, it's getting harder and harder to ignore.]
So...what do you think went wrong?
[Because there is a...vague memory of Natsuno at the sticker party and blah blah something something undead?? She really didn't commit that information to memory... Mostly because she's already giving an involuntary shudder, so she abruptly turns to look at some other brightly-coloured clothes in the futile hope that somehow hides her reaction from Natsuno.]
[Natsuno knows Rita well enough to know she's pretending not to be scared. This is why it takes him a moment to answer, trying to choose his words carefully.]
I think she... went wrong. His sister.
[He doesn't offer details, because there are dozens of terrible options and he doesn't want to give Rita more nightmare fuel.]
From what I've seen, death always takes something away. So when people come back, the solution is to put them down again. Permanently.
[Yeah, went wrong is already going to give her plenty of nightmare fuel, thanks!! She snatches up a striped shirt that she likes, partially just for something to do that doesn't involve thinking too hard about how this sister of Jade's turned out wrong...
Natsuno's continued explanation gets her to turn back to him, though.]
...You mean kill them.
[It's somewhere between a statement and a question. Rita doesn't automatically think killing is evil--she never understood why some people made such a big fuss over those jerks Yuri killed, when they had it coming--but this is different. This isn't about idiots with delusions of grandeur and plans for taking over the world. This is more like...what happened when Estelle lost control of her powers.]
...Did you ever have to do that? To someone you knew?
[Well, from a philosophical point of view, Natsuno definitely considers himself as someone who came back when he shouldn't have. The death of his humanity was still death.
But Rita doesn't care about philosophy, so he goes with the technical explanation.]
No. My blood transformed on the brink of death. Others - failed to survive the change, I guess. They rose a few days later.
[She lets out a breath--okay, so he's still just a regular guy with some weird blood and powers--followed by a slight grimace as the rest finally sinks in.]
So those others... What was wrong with them, then? After, I mean...
[Maybe she'll regret asking this question, about what it means when people come back...wrong. If he doesn't want to explain, she won't push it, either.]
[What was wrong with them? Everything, and somehow not enough at the same time.]
They were dead. No breathing, no pulse. Their skin was ice cold.
[He grabs a pair of pants. Much better than the all boring pastel stuff on the other racks.]
And they had to feed on human blood to keep surviving.
[When he told her that at the sticker party, she freaked out and refused to listen. After all, it was just a spooky tale from a foreign world, and soon they had much more immediate horrors to worry about.
Natsuno wonders if she'll listen now. How long before all the dots connect? Do vampires even exist in her reality?]
[She'd be very approving of those bright pants if she wasn't so busy staring grimly at the clothing rack, hands fisted tightly in the shirts she's holding--only to snap her attention back to Natsuno when he says they fed on human blood.]
They...what...? Th-that can't--but how?!
[It's not that she thinks Natsuno's lying; it's just that she still struggles to wrap her head around something that sounds like a...ghost story. She squeezes her eyes shut and shakes her head. Ugh, she hates this!]
Wait, no--nevermind! I--I mean, there's no way the same thing happened to his sister, right?
["Nevermind." Natsuno lets the subject drop - just as well. Rita may have told him that who he is is more important than what, but he's not sure if she'd still think that if she knew the full truth.]
No. [He's certain of that. Whatever happened, it didn't involve vampires.] More likely, it was magic from his reality. Something to do with "fonons."
[Rita sets her mouth in a grim line. Jade has been really obnoxious sometimes, but still...he hasn't seemed like he was the type to dabble in that kind of shady science. She thought he was kind of okay!!]
...The only way to find out for sure is to get him to spill the beans.
Yeah--there's no way he's getting out of this one!
[Clearly!!]
It shouldn't be that hard since you share that room. All we have to do is catch him in there and block the door.
[She might not normally be this into interrogating someone. But Rita doesn't like being blindsided, and if she starts to become friends with someone...she wants to know she can trust them.
...Like Natsuno. He's been pretty forthright all along, as far as she can tell--which brings his story to the forefront of her mind again (she'd only managed to shove it aside, but it was still there, in the back of her brain...)]
Hey...
[Quieter, now, she glances at him.]
About that...disease in your home. How many people did it affect?
[Another nod.] Yeah. We'll have our opportunity when we give him the clothes.
[Lull him into a false sense of security with gaudy prints, and then ask the hard questions. Perfect, flawless plan!
But then Rita asks a question, and Natsuno's expression grows more somber.]
It wasn't my home. Just a place I lived in. [Now that's out of the way:] I don't know how many were affected, exactly. It was a small village, only 1300 residents. At least several dozens rose, and those were just a small part of the dead.
[Rita nods; perfect. Nothing could ever go wrong with this plan.
Also...if the topic of the conversation were anything else, she'd be quick to argue that the place he lives is kind of the definition of a home--but instead, her brows just furrow slightly, as the rest of his explanation makes her frown. It still sounds like something out of a story. Yet, somehow...it really happened to him.]
You said before this was all pretty recent, right? Was it still happening when you ended up here?
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Limitations are one thing--we don't have the ingredients here--but dangers? There's nothing dangerous about panacea bottles.
There's definitely something fishy about this... I know he likes dodging explanations, but is he really so lazy that he'd make excuses just so he doesn't have to do any work? That doesn't seem like him... Not when panacea bottles could be really useful.
[If they worked against the poison used in those collars... They could have avoided a lot of trouble.]
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He was definitely uncomfortable. [Maybe Natsuno's projecting, but sudden blankness is his telltale sign of an uncomfortable topic.] Maybe he worried it might go wrong and the new potion won't work? But it's not like anyone would take it without testing first.
[Speaking about it out loud only highlights how much it doesn't add up. Scowling deeper, Natsuno offers another tidbit, seemingly unrelated:] Did he ever mention resurrection, when you were talking about magic?
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[This is why it doesn't seem quite right that he'd just be using it as an excuse to be lazy... Something's definitely up, but Rita can't understand how Jade could possibly have hangups over panacea bottles--or their analysis and production.
Rita blinks in confusion at Natsuno's new question, then frowns.]
Resurrection? No...I mean, he mentioned a little about healing magic, but that he couldn't actually use it.
[Her frown deepens, though, as she hasn't forgotten how he let slip that he tried it...to disastrous results, apparently. Still...she's a little skeptical.]
...You think he's tried to...bring someone back from the dead, or something?
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[I tried, Jade said before he cut himself off and apologized. Natsuno didn't press further, because he had secrets of his own to keep, but he hasn't forgotten.]
The other package he got had a doll. I asked if it was his kid's, but he told me it belonged to his sister. He looked pretty upset about it, so I thought maybe she died when she was little. And now that you say it...
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[She hadn't actually expected Natsuno to answer so sincerely with an affirmative. She still isn't entirely convinced...until he mentions the doll, and Jade's sister.]
Wait...if this is all true, then...
[Combined with what she knows, it's starting to paint a...pretty suspicious picture. Rita looks Natsuno in the eye.]
...It's not just that. From what he let slip to me, he might've been the one responsible for her death.
[...Rita isn't usually so into gossip, but how can she turn down these juicy Jade deets? (Also, what the hell, Jade.)]
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He told me he put a ban on forbidden artes. If he was really responsible for her death, he must've tried to fixed that and it went horribly wrong...
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[Why do these old men always have some fishy secret in their pasts... Rita would really like to not think about trying to raise the dead, thanks!! But at the same time, it's getting harder and harder to ignore.]
So...what do you think went wrong?
[Because there is a...vague memory of Natsuno at the sticker party and blah blah something something undead?? She really didn't commit that information to memory... Mostly because she's already giving an involuntary shudder, so she abruptly turns to look at some other brightly-coloured clothes in the futile hope that somehow hides her reaction from Natsuno.]
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I think she... went wrong. His sister.
[He doesn't offer details, because there are dozens of terrible options and he doesn't want to give Rita more nightmare fuel.]
From what I've seen, death always takes something away. So when people come back, the solution is to put them down again. Permanently.
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[Yeah, went wrong is already going to give her plenty of nightmare fuel, thanks!! She snatches up a striped shirt that she likes, partially just for something to do that doesn't involve thinking too hard about how this sister of Jade's turned out wrong...
Natsuno's continued explanation gets her to turn back to him, though.]
...You mean kill them.
[It's somewhere between a statement and a question. Rita doesn't automatically think killing is evil--she never understood why some people made such a big fuss over those jerks Yuri killed, when they had it coming--but this is different. This isn't about idiots with delusions of grandeur and plans for taking over the world. This is more like...what happened when Estelle lost control of her powers.]
...Did you ever have to do that? To someone you knew?
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...yeah.
[He may not have killed Tohru directly, but Natsuno's actions still caused it - as he was well aware, and did it anyway.]
It's the disease I told you about. Most victims stay dead, but in some cases, they rise after a few days.
[Shiki, corpse-demons, with ice cold touch and hunger for blood.]
What happened to me is rare, apparently.
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Wait--wait a minute, are you--you mean you came back?!
[SHE THOUGHT HE JUST HAD WEIRD BLOOD]
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But Rita doesn't care about philosophy, so he goes with the technical explanation.]
No. My blood transformed on the brink of death. Others - failed to survive the change, I guess. They rose a few days later.
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[She lets out a breath--okay, so he's still just a regular guy with some weird blood and powers--followed by a slight grimace as the rest finally sinks in.]
So those others... What was wrong with them, then? After, I mean...
[Maybe she'll regret asking this question, about what it means when people come back...wrong. If he doesn't want to explain, she won't push it, either.]
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They were dead. No breathing, no pulse. Their skin was ice cold.
[He grabs a pair of pants. Much better than the all boring pastel stuff on the other racks.]
And they had to feed on human blood to keep surviving.
[When he told her that at the sticker party, she freaked out and refused to listen. After all, it was just a spooky tale from a foreign world, and soon they had much more immediate horrors to worry about.
Natsuno wonders if she'll listen now. How long before all the dots connect? Do vampires even exist in her reality?]
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They...what...? Th-that can't--but how?!
[It's not that she thinks Natsuno's lying; it's just that she still struggles to wrap her head around something that sounds like a...ghost story. She squeezes her eyes shut and shakes her head. Ugh, she hates this!]
Wait, no--nevermind! I--I mean, there's no way the same thing happened to his sister, right?
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No. [He's certain of that. Whatever happened, it didn't involve vampires.] More likely, it was magic from his reality. Something to do with "fonons."
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R...right...
[Okay. Just take a breath. This is fine.]
...Fonons don't exist in my world. So I can't even begin to imagine what could've gone wrong...
[Getting back around to part of the point, though...]
...Do you think he killed her again? Or is she still alive like...however she turned out?
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[The doll was dusty, like it wasn't touched in years. And Jade doesn't seem like the type to leave loose ends.]
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...The only way to find out for sure is to get him to spill the beans.
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And how would we do that? He evades even everyday questions for sports.
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We ask him, obviously. He can't evade it when he's already revealed all the evidence.
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[Clearly Jade will never physically go through two innocent teens blocking his way!]
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[Clearly!!]
It shouldn't be that hard since you share that room. All we have to do is catch him in there and block the door.
[She might not normally be this into interrogating someone. But Rita doesn't like being blindsided, and if she starts to become friends with someone...she wants to know she can trust them.
...Like Natsuno. He's been pretty forthright all along, as far as she can tell--which brings his story to the forefront of her mind again (she'd only managed to shove it aside, but it was still there, in the back of her brain...)]
Hey...
[Quieter, now, she glances at him.]
About that...disease in your home. How many people did it affect?
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[Lull him into a false sense of security with gaudy prints, and then ask the hard questions. Perfect, flawless plan!
But then Rita asks a question, and Natsuno's expression grows more somber.]
It wasn't my home. Just a place I lived in. [Now that's out of the way:] I don't know how many were affected, exactly. It was a small village, only 1300 residents. At least several dozens rose, and those were just a small part of the dead.
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Also...if the topic of the conversation were anything else, she'd be quick to argue that the place he lives is kind of the definition of a home--but instead, her brows just furrow slightly, as the rest of his explanation makes her frown. It still sounds like something out of a story. Yet, somehow...it really happened to him.]
You said before this was all pretty recent, right? Was it still happening when you ended up here?
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