animus_network | first ❅ video;

[It's been a while since Yukiko has been in the Tower at all - three months, give or take a bit. It shows in her face when she appears on the video feed; this isn't the face of a surprised newcomer. It's the face of someone who has explored enough to know that while she was gone, a lot of her friends have left. Her voice is just a bit shaky when she speaks.]

...hello, Tower. This is Yukiko Amagi. I was here, before, and now I'm back. I think it's been about three months. It's kind of hard to tell time when it passes on a dead world. One day blends into another after a while.

[She pauses, briefly, taking a deep breath.]

I know that there were people from the Japanese town of Inaba here before. They were my friends. I also tried sending them a message. I - I know that they're all gone. The message said 'user not found' for all of them, and so I went down to the graveyard to doublecheck. They're definitely gone.

I'll be okay, though. I know they're gone now, but I can be strong enough for all of them. I know I'm back here for a reason, and that reason must be to make sure they're saved, in the end. Really saved, not just 'saved' as in pulled here again.

...so. What did I miss while I was gone?

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I heard about that. What happened, exactly? All I know is that he got hurt and is probably really mad at everyone.

He was mad at us first. He sent these things... they looked like plague doctors, I think, with the weird masks and everything. They were everywhere and most of us couldn't fight them.

[Yukiko frowns. That sounds par for the course with Jason, sending things that people couldn't fight.]

Monsters with weird masks that people couldn't fight? Yipes. That sounds like him, all right.

When you say 'most of us', then...what do you mean?

I think the orange collared people could fight them all right. They got stronger against higher collars.

[V/V is violet, so she was scared silly.]

[Yukiko's hand goes up to her - yellow - collar.]

They sound terrifying, but at least a few people could fight back...can I ask what happened after that?

That was when Jason came out himself, and a handful of people tried to kill him. I wasn't part of it, so I don't know exactly what happened.

I see. I'm glad you're safe, considering. I'm glad everyone involved is safe, though the fact Jason survived it means he's probably going to be especially angry later...

I'm not looking forward to the next time he's in charge. Maybe he'll calm down by then?

Let's hope he has.

...or that the people who were fighting him have come up with a strategy to take him out for good, if it comes to that. I hope it doesn't come to it, but sometimes those things have to be done...

I don't like people being killed. But if it's him or all of us, it has to be him.

[V/V considers the choice pretty obvious.]

You're right. If it's him or all of us, there's not really a question. It's what has to be done. I don't like people being killed, but if our backs are against the wall, we can't do anything but fight back as hard as we can.

People are really strong here, aren't they? Not physically, I mean, but they're good at enduring a lot.

[Yukiko nods.]

We have to be, I guess. Or at least, we have to learn to be strong, even when it's hard.

I've learned a lot of things here.

Sometime later, maybe - do you want to meet up and do something fun? Like video games, or something like that. I think it'd be nice.

I think we all do.

[She smiles.]

Definitely! We can grab some snacks and a bunch of movies or games or something. It sounds like fun!

Mhm! I don't think we've gotten to know each other well enough yet, but I'd really like to be better friends with you, Yukiko. So we should do something like that!

Sometime this weekend, then?

Sounds good!

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