catch-all: akira.

[miscakes]

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[miscakes]

[...........

CLOSES HIS EYES.]

Phoenix-san's replacement, actually. I wanted to discard the jokes altogether, but they insisted on defacing the note.

[survivaltricks]

Aha. So the theory about Nick having a replacement was right.

[that is. actually very good to know. a small bit of him relaxes at that, knowing that their helpful Blue compatriots will remain even if one of them dies]

[. . .]

[also this explains a lot about. . .]

. . . Nick knew you a lot better than it seemed in public, then. [a pause] Why is your phone different than his?

[miscakes]

[Is it relaxing, Akira? Is it good to know you're easily replaced? Things Akechi won't say, even though he's thinking them.]

I already had my phone. Why would I need a new one? But Phoenix-san didn't have one of his own, so that's all the sisters could provide for him.

[survivaltricks]

[shut up he isn't thinking about it like that]

[Akira nods]

What do you use those for, then?

[and now begins the game of twenty (billion) questions that Akechi must have seen coming]

[miscakes]

Two applications were installed on our phones. One is for communication, and the other allows us to examine one individual per week. That is how we know if someone will transform into a creature or not.

[He totally saw this coming, but Akira could have at least made coffee for him first. Binch.]

[survivaltricks]

[ASK FOR IT AND HE MIGHT MAKE YOU ONE]

[his brows quirk upwards because how did he miss those apps during trial, but. WHATEVER. MAYBE THEY'RE INVISIBLE TO HIM]

. . . are you guys immune from becoming monsters?

[miscakes]

[Ask and get the answer to that, binch.]

... No, we're not. We have simply been lucky that none of us were infected in the previous weeks.

[survivaltricks]

[ah. . . that's unfortunate. his expression flickers a bit, but he nods]

Okay.

[. . .]

Then can you tell me how it works? When do you meet each week to choose who to check, why you messed up on Meltryllis, why some weeks we got reports on two people instead of one. . . and why I couldn't see the app on your phone when I checked it during trial?

[a pause]

And who else besides me and your other partners know?

[miscakes]

[........... AKIRA, THAT'S A WHOLE ASS LIST OF QUESTIONS. Akechi dead eyes him, but starts holding fingers up for each one.]

Mondays. [Second fingie.] Meltryllis-san was the first person we checked, and in the following week... My first partner made a mistake. [Third fingie.] Hunter and Fotia-san were included in our notes to make their immunity public knowledge. I used an item to check Brilith-san. [Fourth fingie.] And the application is for our eyes only, of course.

[A pause, as he considers that last question... And he lifts up his final finger.]

The Doctor knows my identity. You are the first person I have told outside of those I work with.

[survivaltricks]

The Doctor?

[for some reason, when Akechi puts it like that, it doesn't sound like he's talking about Luna???]

[miscakes]

[LUNA CAN OUT HERSELF, SO. No retcons here, since Akechi shakes his head.]

Another person who was granted a job, just as Phoenix-san and I were. My title is the Professor.

[survivaltricks]

[. . . aha. he nods at that and doesn't ask]

What was Nick's title? And do you have any other special privileges, other than being able to check people for. . . "rabies?"

[miscakes]

There are two Professors. Phoenix-san, my first partner, and my current partner all shared that title.

[Make of that what you will, Akira.]

I can check if someone has a job, though that feature is no longer necessary. I can ask for equipment the rest of our group wouldn't have access to, as well. That's how I acquired the gun. [Which, by the way—] By the way, I expect you to lie about its origins.

[survivaltricks]

[bluntly, immediately]

Well, no shit. If you haven't told anyone else, I'm not going to be the one to out you.

[since. gestures at Nick?? whom he is sure was killed due to having a role??]

Where are you going to say you got it, so I don't contradict your story? And what kind of jobs were you checking for?

[miscakes]

My reward for last week's trial. No one else knows about Loki, so it's a convenient excuse.

[Thanks for being a pal, Akira.]

I was searching for the Doctor, but there's no need to continue my search. There are only three of us at any given time.

[survivaltricks]

And you didn't know about each other from the very beginning?

[yeah, that sounds like an obstacle the house would pull. he makes a face, and it occurs to him that there's something strange about the way Akechi is saying "partner"]

[. . .]

How many partners have you had. . .?

[miscakes]

[He shakes his head at his initial question, and then—

Kind of makes a face, like he bit down on something sour.]

My current partner is... the third partner I have been assigned since I acquired this job. [...] They keep dying. I don't understand why Master Blue insists on replacing them.

[survivaltricks]

[. . .]

[and because Akira isn't an idiot--]

Was Mammon your first partner?

[miscakes]

[...]

Why do you think we failed so miserably with Meltryllis-san?

[HORNY MISTAKES WERE MADE.]

[survivaltricks]

[he'd laugh because it's kind of funny, but. . . probably he shouldn't laugh when Akechi has been abandoned by death TWICE now]

I'm sorry.

[. . .]

[there's so much more he wants to say, but he also knows how volatile Akechi gets when he brings up emotions, so. . . maybe not now. maybe later. they still have so much to discuss]

What does the Doctor do?

[miscakes]

[It's a very funny sore spot. Akechi doesn't say anything when Akira offers his condolences, allowing his gaze to drift for a moment. It's when he asks about the Doctor that he seems to tense up, jaw clenching.

Tersely:]

They have the ability to protect one person from a creature by taking the intended victim's place. But that person is a spineless imbecile who would never fight back, so we made a deal with the sisters. If the Doctor is targeted because of their choice, then I will be allowed to intervene.

[survivaltricks]

[. . . . . . . .]

[WHEW. THAT SURE IS A LOT!!!!]

What did that deal cost you?

[miscakes]

[HIS PEACE OF MIND.]

Absolutely nothing. This isn't that kind of situation, Akira.

[survivaltricks]

Most of the time, it is.

[especially knowing how this place works and how many rules Blue and the sisters have to abide by]

[he thinks that covers most of his immediate questions, but. . . he does have one more]

. . . how much more do you know about this place-- this house, Blue, the sisters, the previous rounds-- than the rest of us?

[miscakes]

I told you everything I learned through my job, with some small alterations to obfuscate the source of my information. You know everything I do.

[He has special privileges, but not like that. Now Akira knows why Akechi pushed so hard for certain theories, though.]