They're Still Making New yPhones?

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For the first time since he had woken up in this world, Ren was able to give a smile. Still, it soon faded.

Merrit noticed, as he now knew what was probably weighing on Ren’s mind. For hearing what Ren said, those words weighed on his own mind as well.

“Ren- the stuff you were talking about before- you said you don’t have anything left, you don’t plan to be around much longer. Is that…”

Perhaps it was a sign of something new between them, that Ren decided to answer honestly.

“I don’t know.”

He retreated over to the window again, and stared out with a blank expression, for a long time.

“You said when you saw me, you saw someone with the strength, the courage, to save others. That might’ve been true at one point. But now everyone I cared about is gone… and all I have is a big knife. Alice can do with a snap of fingers what I could barely manage at my best. And as for courage-”

“I told you that true bravery was choosing to stand when you have no reason to, trying to improve when the weight of your regrets drags your every step. You still wish for something more, to redeem yourself, for the strength to change things.

Resting his fingers on the railing, he turned his head to look at Merrit. And Merrit saw a strange expression, twisted and pained, one he would never have expected to see on his face.

“But I think deep down… the reason that I always disliked you was that I knew that you had the purpose I didn’t. All I’ve done since I got here is rot away. I could’ve investigated why my friends died, I could’ve looked at how the world got to this point, I could’ve rallied a resistance, I could’ve went to the Red Zone to save innocents, I could’ve done anything. But I chose to do nothing.”

“I don’t feel worthless. I don’t feel much of anything at all. I have a goal, but it’ll end with me not coming back from it”.

All this time, Merrit was thinking, grasping at straws, looking for some set of magic words that could help, that would lift the burden from Ren’s shoulders, as Ren had done for him. But in the end, despite everything, he found that he could not disagree. How could he, when these traits were exactly what he had criticized Ren for earlier?

In his heart, he truly believed that somewhere deep down inside Ren, there was a good person. That was undeniable. But such weak, vague, convictionless words would do nothing to help.

Ren gave a sad smile, as if he knew what Merrit was thinking.

“It’s ok. I have my own problems to figure out. But you don’t have to force yourself to solve my issues. I hope you, at least, have a little more strength to continue on. So let’s put this behind us for now. Talking to you has helped, at least a little.”

“I- alright.”

Sensing they had reached a good point, Merrit didn’t want to push any further, but there was one last thing that bothered him.

“You talk like we won’t be seeing each other…”

“Well, Alice will tell you. I’m sure she’s sitting outside the door right now, listening in anyway.”

They both looked meaningfully to the door, but there was no movement or response.

“I’ll go check.”

Mildly surprised, Ren walked to the door and opened it. He peered into the hallway warily, and when he didn’t see anyone, he walked down it and turned right, to see Alice in the main living room. A far cry from his own dingy apartment, it was brightly lit, and in the few days they had been living here, Alice had gone and decorated the area, stringing fairy lights around the ceiling and pasting her own drawings on the wall. She was a very good artist, although there were no humans in her pictures, only meticulous, almost realistic, depictions of landscapes.

She waved cheerfully-

“Oh, are you two done? Great, I’ve made some milk and cookies. Can you bring them in?”

“You weren’t eavesdropping?”

“I would never! I respect people’s privacy.”

Ren was surprised she could say that with a straight face.

“You’ve got some nerve, saying that.”

“Well… when you two were screaming at each other I was naturally curious. And as for looking into your memories… can you blame me? There’s so much about the past I don’t know!”

“I’m not a history exhibit… Well, what’s done is done. I’ll bring everything in.”

As he picked up the tray of cookies, Alice bundled up the many papers and notecards that she had scattered around her, and they prepared to walk to Merrit’s room.

“Also… I’m sorry about earlier.”

“You don’t need to apologize. I think I understand why you might feel the way you do.”

Ren had the sobering realization that next to him, was the single person in this world that understood him the best. Whether that was a good or bad thing, he wasn’t sure.

“You’re thinking something mean again, aren’t you?”

“If you know, there’s no point asking.”

“Fine… did you two make up?”

“I think Merrit feels a little better now.”

“And what about you? Do you still want to put that flower back? Knowing full well what that means?”

“I… don’t know. That was the last promise we made together. If I can’t fufill that…”

Alice stopped folding the paper, giving Ren a piercing look.

“Don’t you think you’re being selfish?”

“What?”

Her voice became uncharacteristically heated.

“You know exactly what I mean. She asked you to put the flower back, but that was only because you forced it on her in the first place, she never wanted it. When Mina gave it to you, do you think that’s still what she had in mind? Or do you just want an excuse to give up?”

Defensively, many possible responses jumped to Ren’s mind.

“What do you know?! Don’t speak about her to me… Keep out of my business-”

Perhaps, yesterday those thoughts might have passed his lips. But today he knew, in the end, that she was right. Because, in a way, she had been there herself. So, he chose to stay silent.

Regardless, Alice seemed to know what he was thinking. Seeing his anguish, she relented.

“Sorry. I didn’t…”

“You’re right. But it’s a little tiring… having everyone see right through me today. So just… give me a little bit, alright?”

Ren sighed, and they walked into Merrit’s room.

They found him tinkering with the laptop, to Ren’s surprise.

“Were you able to get that thing working? What even is it?”

“It’s called a laptop… It’s like a big phone. I’ve been working with it for a while, and not really. It’s got some pretty thick security.”

Setting down the papers on a low table, Alice dragged it over to the center of the room near Merrit’s bed and gestured for Ren to put the cookies down.

“That reminds me! Ren, this is for you. Merrit, too.”

She ran back to the living room and gave them each a white package. They opened it to find a phone for each of them, and both were amazed.

“Alice! This is the latest yPhone model! I didn't know they were still making these! It looks like they’re on the 67th one now, I’ve only been able to use an 18 that I scavenged-”

He immediately began rattling off technical specifications and tinkering with it, while Ren had a confused look on his face. He had seen many people with these while he was working, but he had no clue how to operate what seemed like a glowing metal brick.

“Alice… how much was this?”

“Around $2000.”

Ren’s face paled. This was around 10 times the worth of everything he owned, including his apartment.

Seeing that, she giggled.

“You don’t have to pay me. I think since we might be separating from now on, it’s better for us to have a way to contact each other. And speaking of which, let’s get to discussion.”