INTERLUDE: Waning Ruse (Hayato Ishikawa)

“Ishikawa, Mano-san, Haru-san….give me a few minutes yeah? Got a few things to settle before we leave. You can use that time to check all the gear you got from Manfred”

Tatsuo broke off from the rest of us with haste, leaving me, Haru and Yulia alone. But both opted to listen and went upstairs to get their head in the game before we left.

What Shun told us was worrying….Tatsuo had been keeping them under the false pretense that everything is alright for all this time. But I guess it’s now that even a young mind is catching up to this situation.

While what was expected of me was to follow the others back upstairs, I opted to do the opposite and tailed Tatsuo. I knew where he was heading and keeping my step as light as possible and not allowing the wood to creak, I moved from door to door until I had Tatsuo in my field of view. A moment later, he started knocking on her door

“Misa-chan, you in there?” but there was no response

“Shun-kun was worried about you…said you hadn’t been outside for a while”

“Liar” said a soft voice from inside the room. And it’s like I felt Tatsuo’s heart sink the moment he heard it

“Onii-chan doesn’t care about me. He never did ever since we came here” now her voice was clearer through the door

“If he hadn’t told me, I wouldn’t have known. Can you please open the door for me?”

And she did just that after a few seconds. Tatsuo entered the room and the door closed behind him. I took that opportunity to sneak up on them and leaned against the wall outside the room, so I could eavesdrop without too much effort.

“Come on, Misa-chan…What’s wrong? You don’t look like you are enjoying yourself down here”

“I just wanted some time to myself, that’s all”

“Nope…not buying it, if you have anything bothering you…I’m here for you”

“It’s just….I’m tired of Onii-chan not even pretending I exist. Back home, he always clings to me and now when I need him the most, he just acts like we don’t even know each other”

“He’s just playing around with his friends, you just have to-”

“Tatsuo-nii….Can I ask you something?”

I felt Tatsuo’s hesitation even from out here

“….Okay?”

“How come it’s taking them this long to fix the logout function? It’s been a couple of months now?”

Not good….But will he come clean?

“Truth is that time passes for us slower than it does the outside world. It felt like months to us….but outside, it’s only been hours''

“Really?”

“You have my word…The Coalition of Friendship does not lie”

As much as I wanted to cringe hard at that, I still don’t condone Tatsuo doing this…and this was another opportunity that he didn’t take

“So…tell me what is really bothering you?”

“It’s just this place… The blood, the screaming….it’s too much for me. I just miss Mom and Dad….and my other friends. I came here in the first place since Onii-chan snuck out to come here, eventhough Mom and Dad said no. I just didn’t want him getting into more trouble and I wanted to convince him otherwise”

“Misa-chan…..I know this is a lot to take in at the moment. Truth be told….even I miss the real world. Including my folks. But I made a promise to them, and to myself….that I will be responsible for you guys. You know what that means?”

There was a small pause before he continued

“It means I get to do the worrying, you guys get to have fun. And can you do me a favor? Forget about everything for a moment. Shun will come around…and you might even see his point of view if you get to know the others…..Can you do that for me?”

Followed another pause

“Excellent…Oh and one last thing. Everyone is playing Sugoroku tonight, and it’s the winner’s word on what they want to eat all day tomorrow. So as a mission to protect everyone… lets not let Haru nee-chan win yeah?”

I think this is the first time I had heard her laugh. Also even I’m down with the idea of not letting Haru anywhere near tomorrow’s cooking.

“Come on put it there” a sound of a clap followed “Yeaaah….so, see you at the table tonight” and I could hear Tatsuo’s loud steps coming towards the door. And this time, I had no reason to hide

I backtracked to the lobby entrance to avoid Misa-chan overhearing and waited for Tatsuo to pass

“You handled that well” I said the moment he appeared through the doorway

“Ahhh…Ishikawa. You were listening?”

“I need to talk to you….probably somewhere we might not get overheard”

Next thing I know, we both find ourselves in the courtyard out back, where it’s only used for laundry

“What’s up? If you have cold feet about the raid boss-”

“It’s not that…. It’s about the kids…and it’s something that is long due” I replied

“I’m listening”

I keep my gaze fixed on him “You know what I mean”

He took a moment to process and figured it out

“No” he turned around as to leave but I didn’t let him

“You know it as well as I do, Tatsuo….you need to tell them. They deserve at least that much”

“What they deserve is to not worry about any of this bullshit”

“HOW LONG ARE YOU GOING TO KEEP THIS UP, HUH?....Misa-chan came this close to figuring it out….won’t be too long until the others figure it out too”

“It’s already been two months,Tatsuo….And we are still in the bronze layer. How long would it be when we reach Morpheus, even if we live that long? A year, two years? Do you really believe you can keep them in the dark for that long?”

“You don’t know even HALF of what he has been through…”

“Who? Akira? Is it really worse than what we are going through right now?”

“THAT’S OUR BURDEN TO SHARE!” Tatsuo’s screams luckily didn’t manage to reach inside. “I can’t see him like that ever again….I just can’t” he said with his head down

“You can be in denial all you want Tatsuo, but I will leave you with a bit to think about….They find out in a way that isn’t from you, you’ll lose a lot more that you ever thought you could …..I can only hope that it won’t come to that” I turned around and walked away trying to put an end to the conversation.

“How can I?” That made me stop in my tracks

“How can I just tell them that the truth is that we are in a death game? That I’ve been lying to them this entire time?”

“I know it’s hard. But the admiration they have towards you is as much as a lie as what you have told them. Sooner more than later, you have to tell them. Even a kid would come around to understanding why you did it. You already have enough weight on your shoulders…Keep this up, and it will end up crushing you”

Leaving Tatsuo with a dillema he must face, I went back inside, giving him a moment to himself….And to be ready for the much more urgent task ahead of us.