#you’d think a man with that amount of wealth would bother to do research before making a dumbass post like that

[z00r0p4]

My favorite pastime is fighting with my 12 year old brother about Elon Musk

[scrollsofeternity]

I believe our answer matters more than anything they say | Ami | Trial 6 | Re: Hisato, Azusa, Kushiko

Ami can't help but laugh at the justification for not frying her that Hisato has.

“Feh...so I’m still alive because you don’t mind me being in your space. How kind of you, old friend. And I’m surprised you didn’t keep that first name with how pretentious it was. Since you seem to enjoy sounding stupid!”

“You, with your stupid poetry, and your stupid fake six pack and two-toned hair, and being so...stupid. Stupider than me, and I stabbed someone when they asked me to. You cared for Sensei, and for Nakano-san, and you had people like Alphonse and Kushiko and Azusa who cared about you so much...you could have tried to reverse this, and you just...kept going because of your stupid self-hatred. You’re so stupid, Hisato.”

She can’t keep the sarcasm up so close, when she can see the traces of someone she had ice cream with and called a friend, especially when he shows that trace of emotion at Aina’s words. She was right--he’s no tyrant king, despite his posturing. As someone who tried to make everyone hate her enough to vote for her without question herself, she can see that. Sometimes, she hates being so softhearted that she can’t hate people she once cared about even when they stomp on her heart. 

“Our first conversation, we talked about us both having creative powers...and remember when we talked about how our families disapproved of us? That was nice, telling each other how we could live without their approval. To think we have so many similarities and yet we’re completely different...”

“There’s no point repeating your failures back to you when you know that. Everything I said to you before is true, and you’ve done things that are unforgivable, but...I know what it’s like to want to die more than anything. It’s one of the worst feelings in the world. It’s sad that you got to the point where that pain was all you could see...and sadder that you brought others into it. I can never truly forgive that, but...at some point, all I wanted was the four of us to walk out of here together. Kushiko, Alphonse, you, and me. ...you should know that.”

Ami doesn’t leave the circle. She’s not leaving the circle without Kushiko, the way she protectively takes her girlfriend’s hand says as much. She doesn’t know if she can leave this circle and this program with everyone she wants to take with her, but it’s a thought. 

  “I know she can make her own decisions. I wouldn’t bother speaking to her if I didn’t think she was.”

  The nature of a phantom thief is to grab all the treasures she can.

  “You made...a terrible mistake. But even good people do terrible things. That can’t just erase all the good you did before. Didn’t you tell me that, Azusa-chan? You should know why I can’t hate you. You also told me how you enable the people you love...I suppose that’s one of your primary flaws, isn’t it? But I understand. It’s difficult to avoid enabling someone who loves you. Even if the last thing they need is your enabling, when you see the world in someone it’s hard to admit they could be wrong. It’s the same love you told me I deserved better than when I told you about the woman who first broke my heart. Maybe the feelings are genuine, but what they do still manipulates and hurts people. He made Kushiko feel she had a friend and then pulled the rug from under her by deceiving her. People you both love got hurt. And you...did the same thing to me, and to Oshiro-san, and it hurts. But...you also were the one to bring people back. You meant it when you told me you considered me a friend. And if what you say is true, so did Hisato.”

“So even if you won’t listen, even if you throw yourself into the program, I won’t stop reaching out to you, Azusa-chan. I have to try and steal your dog back for you, and I want you to see the garden I wanted to make. I’d like to be able to play video games with you someday, since you say you know about them, and I’m still interested in what kind of hair you think would look good on me when you’re yourself. I’m always going to want you to come with us...Because you’re my friend.”

  “I want you to live. I want everyone to get out of this program--including those we’ve lost. Maybe it’s impossible and naive to think we still have that chance, and I’m making a fool of myself speaking to a tyrant and his lady who have already made up their minds. Even so, I’d rather be a fool who’s wrong than stand idly and never know if something could have changed or not. I want to try, even if it just means another failure.”

Her expression sets into something more determined as she keeps speaking, especially as others, like Shizuka, Chiharu, and Arisa, have yet to give up.

“I don’t think either of you are the same people who walked into this. Correct me if I’m wrong, Hisato, and that it was just another act, but when you rushed in to save Kushiko after she saved you...I thought I saw a man genuinely moved by an act of selflessness. And your goal for this changed from ‘no one kills me’ to ‘everyone kills me’...this whole display is just a desire for punishment."

“The people here will gladly give it to you, of course, whatever that looks like. There’s no denying your actions have consequences. I’m not sure I can stop you from the course you’re taking to your demise no matter what I say to you, but...if you truly want to make up for what you’ve done?”

  “Keep trying. Whether you live or die--and even if you die here, you’ll likely come back to face consequences in the real world anyway--let us keep your resources. If we have to keep the servers running for now to keep them alive, so be it, but we have to keep trying to get them back. Make the scientists keep working to put the brains that exist here back into their bodies-- get some actual doctors, even! Chiharu-san is right, we can hire as many people as we want, if the shitheads you hired won’t work with us! There’s your resources, her resources... and I have the Sakurayama family wealth and every other family I promised to rob. What’s to stop us from trying? No matter how long it takes, there has to be something to be done!  I refuse to believe that it’s impossible!”

  “And if you tell me no--fuck it, we’re trying anyway!”

Her piece said, Ami’s attention returns to solely being on Kushiko. She gently takes her hand, turning so Kushiko is looking at her rather than Hisato.

“Kushiko. I swear, we’re going to do everything in our power so Kata-san can leave here too. No matter how long it takes, no matter the amount of resources and money and research we have to pour into it...you’ll both see your parents again. I’ll dedicate my entire life to it if I have to..”

“You said you’d tear this place to the ground for me...of course I’d do the same for you, no matter what we have to face. We said we were going to depend on each other from now on, right?”

She knows Kushiko wouldn't hear her whispers of “It’s ok, dear, I know,” so she strokes Kushiko’s hair and holds her close to make the sentiment clear. Kushiko--the woman she loves, the woman Ami is determined to spend her life with--whatever others might say about her and whatever she might say about herself, countless times, Kushiko has been a hero to her, and one of the brightest lights that kept Ami going. 

She only found out recently that Elysium was a word that referred to paradise, a place of happiness. Perhaps it’s fitting that was what Kushiko introduced herself to Ami as, knowing what she’s become to her. Beside Kushiko is where Ami has been her happiest, and she hopes someday, the two of them will have that happiness together, far away from the kingdom that bears the name. Like they said, knights of the kingdom they’ll build together. 

For now, Ami will hold Kushiko through the pain as long as she needs her to.