"Your time has come, Aqua. Soon, you will move on and give your body away, for the greater good," Tera said as he loomed over Aqua's shoulder, while both stared down at the bloody letters written all over the floorboards of the abandoned building. It was a sight that would gross most people out, but for the two of them, it was something beautiful. "How do you feel?" Tera asked.
"Anticipation… I think what I am feeling is anticipation…" Aqua said while not averting his eyes from the mark on the ground. "So… How long is i-"
"That's not what I meant," Tera interrupted Aqua. "I mean, on a deeper level… What is the feeling you feel in your deepest parts, what stretches through every fiber of your being?"
Aqua remained silent for a long while, his eyes staying locked onto the ground as Tera eyed him up and down from behind. "Sadness…" he said as he turned to look over his shoulder, "an almost unbearable amount of it… I am not sure how I am still able to stand upright… But soon it is finally done."
"I, too, am saddened to hear that… I had hoped that you might feel some happiness at least now." Tera said while gazing away from Aqua against the wall. However, it looked more like he was looking into the far distance.
Both stayed silent for a long while. Aqua occasionally glanced down at his phone. Every minute felt like a millennium to him. Suddenly, he spoke. "Tera… Do you believe in heaven and hell? I never really bought into that concept… Though I think I already know where I will end up, maybe some reevaluation of my stance would not be too bad after all…"
Tera gently placed his hand on Aqua's shoulder and spoke, his voice was as soft as ever. You could even mistake him for a woman if you would only hear his voice. "I don't think you'll go to hell… You were faced with bad situations and had to make bad decisions. No all-knowing God would judge you for this. The circumstances you were in shouldn't determine whether you go to heaven or hell. Under different circumstances, your life would've probably evolved vastly differently."
"I don't think intention matters much… It's your actions that make you, and if you did bad, only bad will wait for you," Aqua responded.
"Let me give you a hypothetical scenario," Tera said, "If you were able to press a button that would prevent any and every future pain from ever happening, but would also kill every spark of joy and love, would you press it?"
Aqua thought for a long moment, looking at the candlelight dancing with the shadows on the wall. "I wouldn't press it. It would ruin everything for what people worked hard for, just because some people can't bear pain. To me, that sounds pathetic, like someone unable to live with their own failure pulling down others to make himself feel less bad."
Tera also looked at the shadows on the wall, the candle still dancing with it. "I would press the button… Nothingness is a natural state. If everybody were dead, then they'd all experience the same natural state. Then nobody would feel pain. I would definitely downgrade from happy to neutral if it meant that someone else wouldn't have to suffer anymore."
"Let's agree to not agree here," Aqua murmured as his gaze wandered back at the letters on the ground. "But how is this hypothetical connected to my question?"
"It's probably better if you don't understand it," Tera said as he lifted his hand off Aqua's shoulders again.
"Whatever," Aqua sighed, "We've talked enough now… I don't want to miss my mark again. We should start."
"Sure," Tera said as he stepped away from Aqua to the opposite side of the name. "You just have to repeat after me."
Aqua looked around the room one last time, then his eyes locked on Tera, and he slowly nodded.
"By the name of the great lord of the sun, I hereby vow to leave my earthly frame behind and move on to the next layer of existence," Tera spoke, and Aqua repeated.
"My frame shall be used as a vessel. As a vessel for Ai Hoshino." Aqua placed the videotape he held tight against his chest in the middle of Ai's name and lit the incense.
"I call you Ai Hoshino, return from the realm of the dead and inhabit this body anew."
Aqua shut his eyes as a strong gust of wind blew through the room, extinguishing all the incense in an instant. A moment later, he slowly opened them again. He looked down at his arms, at his legs, at his hands, and at his feet as if he were to check if he was really still himself. Then his eyes wandered up at Tera, who was looking right past him.
The door to the room, as well as the front door, was wide open. Akane stood right there, leaning against the frame of the door while breathing heavily, sweat forming on her forehead. She held a crumpled-up piece of paper in her hand, and cold air entered the room through in between her legs.
11th of January, 9:30 pm, 100 EMOJI! Productions' studio
The crowd erupted into laughter before Kana even got the chance to respond to the moderator's question. She hadn't noticed it before, but the entire crowd was masked; not a single face looked at her. Only these dead-looking, partially white and partially golden masks stared back at her. The laughter of the crowd was definitely meant to intimidate her, but Kana used it to her advantage. Each second of the laughing crowd was a second she could use to think.
Wow. This is all it takes to make you laugh?
I would also hide my face behind a mask if I were such a simpleton…
This was surely meant to throw me out of my concept… Not with me.
A faint grin crossed Kana's face.
Not with me, Daniel.
I truly hate people like you.
No, I even despise you.
You go around, making others hate themself for personal gain…
You've been in this industry for what, 3 or 4 years?
That's nothing compared to me…
The laughter of the crowd finally appeared to quiet down, but Kana didn't speak yet. If she were to speak now, it would seem desperate, like she would want to rebuke his words at any cost. She only focused on her hands in her lap; both of her thumbs fidgeted around with each other as she waited. "A small scar is all it takes to go down from really good looking all the way to ugly? How unrealistic are your standards?" The crowd to Kana's right stayed mostly silent; she could hear nothing more than a few nervous chuckles and a few coughs.
"Well, I just don't think that you look that pleasing anymore… Like when I lie down on my couch and turn on a movie, I wouldn't want to have you play the lead." The moderator, Daniel, got up from his chair and faced the crowd. "Am I right? Who else wouldn't want that?" The crowd erupted into another screaming and shouting sea of masks.
To Kana, they look like a bunch of monkeys. Baboons, competing with each other to see who could scream the loudest, hoping that the zookeeper would throw them a banana if they won their battle.
Kana grinned; then she spoke. "Then you'll have a few bad years ahead, pal. Because I can bet with you that your favourite movie director is in my manager's emails right now, offering me a wage the size of your mortgage."
The crowd, which was just calming down from their previous screaming fit, chuckled once again. This time definitely louder than before.
"Okay…" the producer said as he sat back down in his chair, staring right at Kana. Then he picked up the microphone again. "We got a little comedian here, I see. But anybody can do that by sleeping her way up the career ladder. You women just have it this much easier. But even that will be harder now, unless you're going to wear a paper bag, that is."
The crowd laughed again, but it was definitely quieter now; his remark against women hadn't gained him any fans, most likely. She could even see how small droplets of sweat began to form on his forehead.
Bingo… You are just not made out for this.
You thought that I would just be another inexperienced pushover on your way to success…
Go on, run off the stage as that one girl did.
"Nuh uh," Kana said in the cutest, most sugary voice she could muster up from her time as an Idol. "Your Idol, Kana Arima, is still pure. Matter of fact, I never even dated anybody before… But I let you guys in on a little secret." She acted like she would whisper into someone's ear while still speaking into the microphone. "Once upon a time, I had a crush on someone."
"Well then, let's change that. I have time after this," The moderator said while wildly shuffling the index cards in his hands. "You know, I can show you a few tricks, so you can impress your crush."
Kana ignored him and rose from her seat. She took a few steps towards the crowd, tightly gripping her microphone and staring right back at the wall of fetish masks. "And this, ladies and gentlemen, is how fast a desperate incel changes his mind. A few minutes ago, I was, and I quote, disgusting and not pleasing to look at. And now all of a sudden he wants to sleep with me?"
Kana giggled into the microphone. "To all my fellow women in the crowd." Kana pointed at the moderator, her cute latex gloves practically sparkling from the bright lights. "Would y'all seriously sleep with someone like him?" As she turned around a quarter, maybe a third, of the crowd began to laugh. "Only over my dead body," she said after sitting back down, her eyes glaring at the moderator.
"That is not what I said," the moderator growled into the microphone while jumping up from his chair. His voice was clearly raised, trying to overpower the crowd. "I would sleep with you so I can take the last thing you have left, not because you look decent."
He was partially fuming as he faced the audience. Their laughter had died down again, and they just looked at him with untelling expressions once more. "You said that you would only sleep with me over your dead body. Maybe we can arrange that."