[Video]

[bakegarasu]

[Yeah, it's dark and late. So what? Otoha is standing on top of a roof, letting the camera pan around to take in the city.]

[He doesn't turn the camera towards himself, just faces it towards the coral, glowing softly, before he speaks.]

People can get brought back here. Death doesn't really mean anything, then.

Even at home, though… death wasn't really something that people like me were supposed to fear. Killing didn't really mean anything but the removal of a problem.

[He's quiet for a moment.]

Why do people get so upset about killing or murder? I've never understood it.

[There's another pause, like he's going to say something else, before he shuts off the feed.]

Comments

[bakegarasu]

A Karas is a soul chosen by the will of the city to be its protector. They protect all life in the city, not just human life.

[shotarcana]

It sounds like you have important work to be doing at home, then. If your whole job is that you're supposed to protect life, how can you think that killing or murder isn't important?

[bakegarasu]

I'm still pretty new at it. I used to be an enforcer for the yakuza.

[shotarcana]

A yakuza enforcer. Pretty scary.

...Different kind of "protection" for the city, huh?

[bakegarasu]

That was the point, yeah.

And... it is. It's... weird for me.

[shotarcana]

Do you like it better?

[bakegarasu]

... I don't know.

[Morality is hard, okay.]

[shotarcana]

You don't? I thought it might be an easy choice. What makes it hard?

[bakegarasu]

I was brought up in the yakuza. It was the only life I knew.

[shotarcana]

So would you say you miss that because it's your home, even with a chance to do something that might be more worthy?

[bakegarasu]

Less that it's my home... and more that it's easier to stay the same than it is to change.

[shotarcana]

It certainly is. But we all have to get used to changing sometimes. I bet it's actually better. Don't you have more of a sense of purpose?

[bakegarasu]

Here, yeah. At home, I'm still a weapon, just guided by a different hand.

[shotarcana]

Just because you fulfill something else's purpose doesn't mean you can't take purpose from it yourself. It's what the weapon does that counts, isn't it?

[bakegarasu]

True. I just wish I could feel like a person.

[shotarcana]

You don't need to wish. You are a person. I can tell from what we've been talking about.

[bakegarasu]

[... He just shrugs a little.]

I try to believe that, but it's kind of hard.

[shotarcana]

What's hard about it? I think it's obvious.