[It's just two short words, but Minato's voice pierces through him like an arrow. It's the first time he's heard this voice -- so clear, so close -- in months, and it hits him all at once that Minato Arisato is alive here. Alive, not the way he and Sanada-san were, but the way Aragaki-san was, with time borrowed from the Porter.
He decided to make it a voice call purposefully. He doesn't think he could have controlled his expression; hadn't Jaime said once that he was terrible at lying? He thinks back to the many silences that had passed between himself and the leader, all the secrets the other had held back, and what they must have meant. And he thinks he understands, now, why Minato had stayed silent. There was Ken's insistence that he wasn't interested, he's sure, but how could someone like Minato have looked at the way Ken was then and told him, Oh by the way, a handful more die, including me?
He thinks he understands, because he closes his eyes and takes a breath, and he thinks about what he had seen. Yukari-san, so closed off, avoiding everyone as much as she could. Aigis-san, so devastated that she tried to 'die' in her own way. And the others, not showing anything but feeling just the same. And he thinks about the Answer the person on the other end of this call had found, at the end of his Journey.
He thinks he understands; he's not ready to talk to Minato about it yet, either. For now, just for now, he wants this moment to last, to pick up where he left off, so he forces a smile even if Minato can't see it and replies,]
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He decided to make it a voice call purposefully. He doesn't think he could have controlled his expression; hadn't Jaime said once that he was terrible at lying? He thinks back to the many silences that had passed between himself and the leader, all the secrets the other had held back, and what they must have meant. And he thinks he understands, now, why Minato had stayed silent. There was Ken's insistence that he wasn't interested, he's sure, but how could someone like Minato have looked at the way Ken was then and told him, Oh by the way, a handful more die, including me?
He thinks he understands, because he closes his eyes and takes a breath, and he thinks about what he had seen. Yukari-san, so closed off, avoiding everyone as much as she could. Aigis-san, so devastated that she tried to 'die' in her own way. And the others, not showing anything but feeling just the same. And he thinks about the Answer the person on the other end of this call had found, at the end of his Journey.
He thinks he understands; he's not ready to talk to Minato about it yet, either. For now, just for now, he wants this moment to last, to pick up where he left off, so he forces a smile even if Minato can't see it and replies,]
Tadaima, Minato-san. It's been a while, huh?