Touchdown! [Safi]

It has been a good minute since Hyde had a one on one conversation with Sharaku, and he wanted to know what Sharaku meant when he mentioned his past. So Hyde sent a text to Sharaku and told him to meet him here. The football stadium was quite deserted, but Hyde always saw the football games on TV. He admired the integrity of the sport, so it was quite comforting to sit in a football stadium atleast once. Hyde was sitting at a pretty good distance, so he was sure that Sharaku would show up if he wanted to. However, Hyde would understand if Sharaku didn’t show up, he was starting to learn that people end up being busy at times. It can’t be helped, and there was no one to blame for it at all. Life does get you down sometimes. “beep, beep…” Waiting patiently was a chore, so Hyde decided to play candy crush to pass the time.

At first, Sharaku frowned a little. It was not for the fact that Hyde wanted to meet with him, but mostly a bit of a confusion as to why in a place like that. As far as his knowledge went, he was pretty sure the redhead did not live in Standasen, and it was rather obvious he himself didn't. It sort of made him wonder what was the reason for such a trip to meet. On the other hand, it did give him a reason to walk, which was something he enjoyed doing, so he eventually gave up trying to puzzle this little mystery out. Though, somewhere in the back of his mind he hoped Hyde did not want to actually play football, since that was not something he would fancy very much. Besides, doing that in his style of clothes would be somewhat strange, even if he tended to forego wearing his suit jacket lately. It was generally a bit too warm for that anyway. A simple white shirt with a black tie was enough for now.

A good half an hour later, mostly spent taking care not to get lost, as he'd never been to that specific place before, he managed to get there pretty much unscathed. True, he had been to Standasen a few times before, but he never had so much as a reason to even look towards the stadium. Why would he? That made him think back to the previous dilemma for a while. What did Hyde want? Sharaku couldn't help but find it unusual to have a meet up here. And in all honesty, it was a place he most likely would never go to on his own. Well, would you look at that? Hyde actually made him go somewhere new...how amusing. Though the redhead would most likely not find out about it.

The bright hair was easy to spot, so he did not have to spend a lot of time searching around, which was a small plus in its own way. After deciding a good route, he would eventually approach the teen from behind, looking over the younger's shoulder with slight curiosity. ''Bored enough to play games?'', he would state, a bit jokingly. Well, he had no idea what was the redhead even playing, but that really mattered not at that moment. It simply gave him something to say.

“Ahh, hey Sharaku. Thanks for coming!” Hyde would say with a reassuring smile as always, there is never a time when Hyde is not happy to see his friends. Even when Hyde is sad or upset with them, there is never any love loss. “This game is called candy crush, I heard it was pretty popular on facebook and things like that. So I downloaded the app, though need to spend some money to unlock more levels once you get past a certain point. It’s still fun though, I’m enjoying it.” Hyde would say as he moved over so Sharaku could sit. “ You know, do you ever wonder why this place was abandoned? It really does make me wonder why being here is such a rarity for most, and the fact that it’s abandoned make it a nice home for the homeless as well. However, they would be run out once the games start. It’s pretty sad to think about…” Hyde would say as he looks out across the big field. “ Do you think about things like that?”

Spoiler:

''Ah, Hello Hyde. A pleasure to see you again.'' Sharaku would greet back politely with a slight nod, as usual. He wasn't the type to hug friends when seeing them or anything like that. Force of habit, you could say. It would take a great deal of patience to make him consider something more extravagant. Totally not his thing. He would raise an eyebrow when Hyde explained his game. Well, he hadn't asked about it, but he figured that this kind of thing was normal, it being Hyde in the first place. The redhead always brought up stuff out of the blue, as hard as it was to get used to the unexpected notions. ''I see. As long as it entertains you....'', he would comment with a light smile, trailing off a bit. Sharaku wasn't the one to keep up on modern types of games very much, so it wasn't a talk he felt he could keep up for long. Well, if he really had to...but he'd rather not. He knew how to work high tech devices and all, but fancy games just sort of passed him over. And he had a distinct feeling he would find it boring if he were to try and get into it. It certainly wasn't because it was childish, as he was aware even adults played these things. His state of mind probably just didn't process it as very fun.

After a thoughtfull glance, he would sit down, only to give Hyde a sideways look with his golden eyes as the teen brought up another, completely unrelated topic. Well, unrelated to the games at least. For an extended while, he had no idea how to respond to that. Sure, he thought about a lot of things, but this....not really. ''Hm, you know...not everyone likes to play sports. I suppose this kind of thing can happen if there aren't enough people interested in keeping it going. Many people are busy...school, work, or perhaps family can eat a lot of one's time, and unless someone is a proffesional player that gets paid for this, it's not surprising most choose not to.'' That was like the first thing that he could get out of the top of his head at the moment. If he were to be honest, this wasn't something he cared about much, but meeting a question with silence would be rude, therefore he made something up, even if on spot. ''As for homeless people...it is sad, but more so than not, there isn't much that can be done about it...'', he would add after a moment, remaining vague on that part. He wasn't sure he liked to discuss that.

''Though, sometimes it makes life easier to not think about things such as these, you know?'', he would ask in a light, thoughtful tone, as he looked somewhere upwards...not really expecting an answer. In a way, he was saying that more to himself than Hyde. A light sigh later, he would look back at Hyde calmly. ''Is this talk the reason why we're here out of all possible places?'', he would ask afterwards, even though there was no evidence of curiosity in his tone. It was simply a matter of fact question.

“Actually no, there was two occasions that you sad we could talk about your past. One was when we was in the cave with Akashida, and another time was when I was at the carnival. It seemed like a pretty serious time in your life, and it would be a bit self-centered of me to not address that. That and the fact that you did make a promise. “Hyde gave a small laugh as he continued to look out to the stadium. “As a matter of fact, I have a secret as well. So it’ll be pretty fair if you were to be open, right? I mean, you don’t have to tell me every single thing about your life; but I want to know about what happened to you anyway, if you still want to talk about it. “Hyde’s voice was sincere, but he didn’t want to pry. Even though Sharaku said he would, he didn’t have to, and Hyde wouldn’t force him to.

''Ah....'' So this was what Hyde wanted? A little surprising for it to be now, even though Sharaku had expected the redhead to actually ask at some point of time. And Hyde made a good point, he had promised to tell. And he did not break promises if he could help it. That and he couldn't deny he was somewhat interested when Hyde mentioned having secrets as well. Sharaku was in no way hyper about getting to know things, but those that offered some sort of mystery could pique his interest. ''True, I promised didn't I?'', he would give a small smile, as he leaned his chin on one hand. This wasn't going to be easy. While he knew he was going to have to tell, if only because of his little honor code thing, he still did not like the idea of blurting it all out just like that.

''Let's try then.'', he would laugh a little. Well, if he had to tell, he was going to go roundabout with it. It would also give him some time to gauge Hyde's reaction before moving on with any of the stuff. ''This might seem rather unrelated...But let me ask you a question, if you will.'', he would start up in a seemingly conversational tone, like a simple small talk. ''You still go to school, don't you? I do not know how it works nowadays, but I believe there are some classes where they give you an assignment to experiment on something, no? Humans seem to enjoy doing so, wouldn't you say? How about you?'', he would ask around, this time rather curious about Hyde's response to that. He would do so, still keeping a light, neutral smile on his face. It probably wouldn't change the course of this conversation much, but he would prefer to know Hyde's stances to that, before going any deeper into the subject. This was no light stuff after all.

“Experimenting?” What does this have t do with Sharaku’s past? Was he a scientist of some sort? Super duper high school scientist that became too famous so he hides with a fake name? “Ok, that was a little crazy.” It couldn’t be that, Sharaku never mentioned science before. Anyway, Hyde proceeded to answer the question. “Well, I had this biology class where we had to experiment on pigs and take out some organs and match them up with what was on the list. It was pretty crazy for most, there was blue ink or something inside so it was substituted for the blood, or maybe it meant it was sterile. Though, some people thought it was cool and others thought it was pretty sad that we are using dead baby pigs to experiment on, even though they died during birth. Kind of makes me thankful made it through my own birth, and seeing their grey dead eyes were….. a little sickening. But after a few days of this experiment, I’m sad to say that it didn’t bother me anymore.” Hyde went a little off topic, so he drove the conversation back on track. “In other words, yes I have. Why?”

...Pigs? One thing was certain, that was pretty far from what Sharaku had expected out of Hyde. It was interesting how the redhead acted all cheerfull and hyperactive one minute and talked about dead animals the next. Someone found it easy to switch around with such contradictory moods, eh? Yet, it was rather intriguing. However, animals weren't what he was trying to focus on at this moment, no matter how sad that notion might be. ''Not unexpected, I'd say. Still, it would be much worse if they were alive for that matter, wouldn't you say?'', he would muse aloud, before going quiet for a few moments. Well, this was not going how he expected it, but at least he'd get to play with it, if nothing else.

''Why, you ask? I simply wanted to know how you feel about this kind of acts. And some.'', he would say calmly, a small smile still present on his face. He generally did not enjoy talking about anything related to his past, but for once, Hyde's way of response had a good effect, rather than a bad one. For the amusement he got out of this, made it easier to keep on the subject. ''Now, let's switch a little bit. Animals are one thing, and it sure is sad, as you say....However, I'd rather refer to a different type of experiments. Say, can you think of anything more sick than experimenting on animals?'', he was sort of even enjoying this back and forth questioning. Though, he couldn't say whether it was good or bad in this situation. He shouldn't feel this way about such an unseemly subject...yet, there was something about it....

Well, it would be experimenting on people against their will. Stem cell research is one thing, but taking one of the death row inmates and Turing them into deadman wonderland rejects is another.” Hyde would say as he quickly switches it up, he was sure that Sharaku didn’t know what Hyde was talking about. “Sorry, that’s a reference to an anime that I used to watch. Some of the inmates in there were experimented on. They were also forced to fight other inmates, and the loser had a roulette spinner in response to what body part would be taken from them. It was harsh…” Hyde would think about it, was there something even worse than experimenting on humans?” I’m sure that it doesn’t get any lower than that, and I’m not naïve enough to not say that somewhere in the world…. There are a bunch of bad people that are doing it. I would stop them if I had the power to, human life is pretty precious. “ Hyde would say with a cheerful smile. “Though, …well… yea…. Experimenting on live humans would be pretty inhuman …especially if they didn’t willfully want it….like the incredible hulk or Captain America did in that movie.

The fact that he indeed had no idea what deadman wonderlad was aside, it seemed Hyde actually got on the right track this time. Ah, wonderfull....Sharaku had genuinely expected this to take a while longer than it had. Well, less fun for him, apparently. But, anime references and whatnot, the redhead apparently had some good intuition there, even if Sharaku figured the teen was not piercing it together as of yet. That was fine though, because he wasn't in any hurry with it. Some may say it's easier to just get talks like this over with quickly, but it mattered not to him. He actually enjoyed taking the long route, giving him the opportunity to observe some things, along with telling an unpleasant story.

''I am rather surprised you went with exactly what I was going for at the first try.'', he would laugh shortly. But, that nonwhitstanding....''But, yes, inhuman would be a fairly good way to describe it. Though, it is pretty low that these things actually do keep happening in reality, not just movies and horror stories. It's nice to hear you'd like to stop such people, but I would say it is not an easy feat. Getting involved with that never brings anything pleasant.'' Though, he knew he couldn't stop Hyde when the redhead set himself on something. But, he would definitely not encourage him to poke deep into this subject. It was simply not a good idea, and if anyone could say that, then he was a fairly good choice to do so.

''Now, a little off topic, though I'd suggest keeping our current conversation in mind....This might actually be a bit easier for you to think about...Supernatural stuff is becoming common after all...Say, we have been fighting those Shadows lately...they are our enemies, right? That in mind, how close would you be willing to get to a Shadow, hm? And I mean without engaging it in a battle...'' Curiosity killed the cat indeed, but he was not a cat, so he could keep asking if he wanted. And he really liked knowing what the other thought about these things. And just maybe seeing how much of a connection could Hyde come up with on his own, without being given an exact statement. Besides, he had been thinking about this too. Back then, he had no actual idea what was it all about, but after those recet events and meeting Shadows in flesh...well, let's just say he wasn't stupid enough to figure the missing bits here and there. Yet, he still did not know the reasons for which those people had been doing it.

Experiments and shadows? Where was all of this leading? Was this just a random occurrence of curiosity? “Well, I wouldn’t want to get that close at all. Shadows are dangerous, I seen them in the previous region that I told you about. There is nothing friendly about them, and everyone that sticks around them for too long will become something of a mindless zombie. We can fight them now, and I have no clue where this power came from or now. However, all I was able to do in the past was run away. “ Hyde stopped for a moment when he realized that they jumped from one subject to the next. “What does this have to do with your past? You mean to tell me that you knew about the existence of these things before? Was you apart of a company that experimented on them or something?”
Hyde then chuckled a little bit. “Dude, I actually thought you was a child genius scientist or something, so it would be quite the coincidence if I was right!”

Oh, figures. It was normal to think that Shadows were dangerous, because...well, they were. That was a fact even he knew, as he had faced the hostility well enough, until something apparently worked out. What it was, he didn't know. That said, he wouldn't say Violet Soul was your usual friendly neighbor even now. He was still a Shadow, and it showed. Alas, Sharaku has had no choice but to grin and get used to being stuck with one of their kind, even if he did not know what his uncalled for companion was until as of late. ''A mindless zombie, huh?'' Well, he was far from one, but he supposed normal encounters were different. Afterall, what was he to know what actual 'shit' was done to make such experiments possible. And he had a feeling he did not really want to find out. It was easier to just leave it behind and live on. Less pain to deal with, and he had already had enough.

Then, Hyde finally decided to give up and ask directly, apparently not making enough of a connection to keep going. Or he was simply impatient enough to just pop the question. What did all this have to do with his past? A lot would be the simple answer. Though, listening to Hyde's ideas...Sharaku was not sure whether to laugh, or start feeling sick about this. And he was actually leaning more so towards the latter. Ugh, not good. He would take a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment, before looking at Hyde giving a smile, this time however, a sad one if to be categorized. ''As much as it may not seem like it, it has a lot to do with it.'', he would mutter, before continuing. ''To ease your mind, I did not know what these things actually were up until that first meeting with them in San Malarus. Well, not a first for me techincally, but a first when I knew what I was dealing with.'' That was still rather simple to put down. ''However....I am..afraid you're not exactly right, though some of these things do play a role here. For one, I dislike scientists a lot...Working there? Well, it couldn't be considered that, really.'', he would pause for a while, before giving a sigh. ''You forgot one thing..yes, we talked about experiments before this...I suggested you remember it well. I am not talking about experimenting on Shadows only.'' This was getting a bit harder here. Playful as he was, he did really dislike talking about this. It made him feel uneasy. But...they say it's better to talk than be silent? Even if he wasn't sure how that would help him with anything....

“We were talking about humans bef-“ It finally clicked when Hyde got it, Sharaku was talking about humans and shadows. “Wait, you mean to tell me that your past involves humans being experimented with shadows? I remember that Yata guy we saved; there was some clone that looked just like him. IT had yellow eyes, was that a shadow as well?” That was definitely farfetched, but it was safe to assume that the doppelgangers had something to do with shadows if they turned into beings when pissed off. “After we beat it, that flame golem turned into a persona. Does that mean our personas are really shadow that we beaten up? Wait, I’m getting off topic, you was experimented on? Oh my god….” Hyde definitely had a look of despair on his face; he always thought that there was something a bit different about Sharaku. His eyes were yellow, but he was a nice guy. Also, Sharaku didn’t have a normal persona like being; it took the form of a weapon. “Raku, is that why you was separated from your family? It was against your will?! They can’t do that!” Hyde banged on the chair in front of him and winced in pain. It was no point in getting upset and angry, the past already happened. However, Hyde couldn’t help but to feel sad for sharaku, his childhood was taken from him for no reason at all. “I'm sorry, but….its just…… those kidnappers…..they took everything from you……”


Weakness

Spoiler:

It appeared that Hyde was finally starting to put it together, in his own way. One thing made Sharaku pause a little bit though. About that other guy's copycat. It did indeed seem like a Shadow at first, and it became a Persona then...strange, though he figured there were different mechanics between that, and the way his connection worked. After all, in his case it was probably more so unnatural, if he were to take a blind guess. This time, he would wait until Hyde finished talking completely, withou interrupting him in between, simply giving him a slightly sad look. Surprisingly, the redhead was taking it a bit better than expected, even though that chair bang has had to hurt.

''Ah well, yes....Looks like you finally got it right.'', he would say, attempting a lighter tone for once. ''Though, some people are known to do whatever they want, if they have the power to do so. Even as far as that.'' Some people had no consciense, no? ''I...well, it's not really that bad...I'm still myself...in a way...and perhaps there is a gain for every loss, isn't there?'' After that, he would remain quiet for a while, before taking another deep breath and turning his gaze fully onto the redhead again. ''I do however believe...it works rather differently than what we saw with Yata back there. This..wasn't about doppelgangers, or any of the like...'', he would trail of, a slightly disturbed look on his face. ''Ah, well....since we're already talking about this...I could tell you something in details, if you're interested. Make up your mind quickly, if you will. I would rather not talk about this deal twice...it's not exactly pleasant business. Besides, I suppose I owe you a more direct explanation, since I said I would tell you about this....'' It was not an easy task, but he figured it might be for the better to just do so now, than reopening this topic later if any of it came up. It was entirely up to Hyde though. He would respect his wishes on whether he wanted to hear something about this or not.

“I already brought you out here to hear your story, so I might as well go all the way.” This wasn’t all for nothing, this was a defining moment in Raku’s past that was being talked about. Hyde wanted to know, he wanted to learn of the struggle. He also wanted to know of the gain that Raku mentioned, just a a small taste of the hope that this all wasn’t in vain. That there was something to be gained from this afterall. “I want to know, so …whenever you are ready..” Hyde paid close attention to Raku.