Chapter 232: Unfamiliar Faces
“Hey, old man. Yeah. Just thought I’d co back. I don’t think this is going to be doable.”
Zuko flinched. “What do you an?”
“I an, I can’t do it. There’s too much that I can’t control.”
“...I understand,” Zuko sighed.
He turned and walked upstairs. John waited in the doorway, looking around. Strangely, he didn’t react in the slightest to Anta, who was still in an Anta form. He did glance at her, but it was likely in the sense that he was seeing a person rather than an inanimate object. Otherwise, he just waited patiently.
Zuko returned carrying a simple katana. Despite the dimness of the room, it still shone, the tal polished to perfection.
“Not my greatest work,” Zuko said quietly. “But it is a good blade.”
John’s eyes shot up in surprise. “What? Wait, hold on, I didn’t finish-”
“You put in over four months' ti. Please. I could not send away one who did work without pay. I received much from what you provided. This is the least I can do.”
“Uh. Sure. I won’t say not to free shit, I guess,” John said, taking the sword with two hands.
He checked it up and down, almost admiring the craftsmanship, then swung it around a few tis. As always, his form was sloppy, but that wouldn’t stop him from fighting well.
“You… that sword will not slice well if you aren’t properly trained,” Zuko warned. “It is still a fine weapon, but-”
“Ah, don’t worry about that,” John reassured him. “It’s not like I’m planning on becoming a master swordsman.”
“...best of luck, young man,” Zuko said quietly. “In whatever endeavors you may take on.”
“Thanks. I think I’ll stick around the city, so maybe we’ll see each other around,” John said, waving.
Zuko turned back to Anta after closing the door.
“That was the man,” he said quietly. “Is everything alright?”
“Y-yes,” Anta stamred. “Sorry. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, child.”
Zuko headed upstairs, leaving Anta alone.
“Anta,” Prota said quietly. “Maybe… maybe John is nice-”
“No. Don’t confuse politeness for caring for [Characters]. You should’ve seen the difference. He didn’t see whoever he respected in Zuko this ti around, because Zuko was just a [Character].”
“But… he wasn’t an.”
“Was John ever an? He’s not sadistic, Prota. Even in our last life, he made that very clear. He doesn’t just go around killing for the sake of doing so. He does it if it’s convenient. Don’t mistake it. His empty self was only bad to us because we hung around him. But to most, he’s an ordinary guy. How do you think he ran a bar for so long? He’s not a villain.”
“...villain?”
“Prota. None of this is real to him. It’s like a ga, and he’s stuck in it. He’s just… trying to get ho.”
“But-”
“It doesn’t excuse his actions. And it doesn’t an we have to lie down and take whatever he does. But I’m saying to not mistake indifference for emotion. That’s just naturally how he is. Rember what he said? Killing is easier.”
“...John is lazy. Right.”
“Eaxctly,” Anta sighed. “If soone gets in his way, is it easier to talk them out of fighting? Or is it easier to just remove them from the equation entirely? I’m sure that, if he runs into an opponent too strong to fight, he’d rather run away.”
“Then… why not kill anyone here?”
“Did you hear what he said? It was a job. Zuko set a requirent for him, that being to keep everyone alive. If John kills soone, that job is invalid. It’s harder, but it technically wouldn’t fulfill the promise.”
“...[Zero]?”
“You think John’s gonna use [Zero] on sothing like that?” Anta laughed. “Please.”
Prota sighed. She’d gotten her hopes up. Hopes that, across tilines, across [Resets], the John she’d known was still there. That, perhaps even now, she just had to talk with him. Convince him to try sothing different.
But no.
This was how John originally was.
The fatigue he’d shown, the weakness…
He’s only changed because of her.
It was because he’d been tempted by the idea of a “companion.”
Without that, he was simply drifting. Wandering with a single goal in mind.
Nothing else mattered to him.
“Still, it was good to see him again, wasn’t it? Even if he had that dead look in his eyes,” Anta said, nestling her head in her arm. “After all that ti. Well. We will have to be a little more careful, though.”
“...really?”
“Prota. When you died, John was… well, broken, I guess. Do you know how long he spent learning to care for [Characters]? Only to have that ripped away? Think about it. He lost one world. Lost everything to save it. Swore not to care for [Characters], only to end up doing exactly that, only to lose them. Again. Would you be ok after all that?”
Prota was silent.
“Well, that doesn’t matter. In the end, the solution is the sa, isn’t it?”
Right. The plan had always been like that. Strategies like persuasion, philosophy and manipulation were fine and good, but in the end, it always ca back to the basics.
Fighting.
It was hard to have a civilized debate when the other party was dead set on shoving a sword through your chest.
“But… well, sothing’s odd,” Anta muttered.
Prota suddenly felt a twinge of fear.
“John made Zero promise that we wouldn’t et. I don’t know what that promise entails… but the fact that we t ans it was out of Zero’s control. Or was it?”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that the conditions John set are ambiguous. Does eting us entail eting us early enough that he changes as a person? Or does it an literally not eting us at all?”
Prota understood.
If it were the forr, then that condition had already been cleared. If it were the latter, then that ant Zero had no control over whether or not John t Prota at this point in ti.
Regardless, it was a little concerning. Zero had always been a rather ambiguous being. He acted with John’s best interests in mind, but that, too, was a mystery.
Whether or not Zero had set this eting up was what Anta was worried about.
“...no point worrying about sothing we can’t figure out,” Anta sighed. “Goodnight.”
~~~
“Hey, Zero. That girl.”
“Hm? What’s up?”
John was taking his ti walking down the dirt path that led out of the little neighborhood. The sky above was perfectly clear. He’d already changed out of the suit provided by the Yakuza, and his scarf was fluttering in the soft breeze.
“She seed a little interesting.”
“Oh, co on. You know that old guy has a granddaughter. It’s probably just a friend or sothing.”
“...there’s sothing you’re not telling .”
Zero laughed. “Well, yeah. There’s a lot of things I’m not telling you.”
“No. I an, there’s sothing fishy about how you’ve been acting. For years, you stay silent, and then all of a sudden, you start telling where [Deus Ex Machina] is, and then you tell it’s gone. How is that possible? This world shouldn’t even understand what that energy is. How can soone take it?”
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit for the authentic version.
“Well, that’s not entirely true.”
“You’re telling people have my mories?” John groaned. “Seriously, making do all this work…”
“If you’re complaining about work, why’d you work with that old man?”
“I’m bored, Zero. There’s been nothing to do. It was sothing. Besides, I enjoyed gambling.”
“And yet you still have that dead look in your eyes.”
“Are you going to make fun of , or are you going to help ? Piece of shit,” John grumbled. “At least tell if she’s soone important or not.”
“...what do you define as important, John?”
“That’s more than enough of an answer. Thanks.”
Zero didn’t reply to that. But the silence wasn’t really a sign of nervousness. John knew his soul well. If he was nervous, he would express it.
But that silence was worse.
Zero was being smug.
“What’s so funny, huh?” John sighed. “What could you possibly be gloating about?”
“Nothing. John. Have you ever considered that… you know, maybe you’re not in control?”
“Always. You know that.”
“No. Not in terms of the [Author]. But in terms of another [Character].”
“Well, yeah,” John shrugged. “There’s a lot of [Characters] that can beat in my current state. I’m not exactly strong at the mont or anything.”
“Is it possible another [Character] is more aware of things than you are?”
“Here?” John thought for a mont. “Probably not.”
“...interesting answer,” Zero said slowly. “John. Do you miss your old world?”
“No. Well. Maybe?” John kicked a rock, watching it tumble across the grass. “It’s a story to , Zero. It was fun, I guess, but ultimately, it’s just a vague mory.”
“Hm. Interesting.”
“That’s all you have to say? Interesting?”
“Yeah. Is that a problem?”
“Yeah. But you’re not going to do anything about it, so piss off,” John muttered.
He took in a deep breath of the night air. The sll was surprisingly clean, despite the multitude of forges. Perhaps so kind of magic at work. John hadn’t bothered to learn the chanics of this world’s powers, so he wasn’t sure, but this wasn’t enough to make him curious.
“Why the sword?” Zero said, changing the topic.
“You took away most of the weapons in the storage!” John exclaid. “I can’t use anything!”
“You can use the [Infinity] swords-”
“My ass! [Determination] is barely working,” John sighed. “Even a multiplier of a hundred splits my head apart. I was only able to use it twice to save my ass. [Zero] is just way easier to use, but I can’t even use that very well.”
“That sword’s gonna break if you don’t use it right,” Zero warned.
“So what? I’m not going to use it anyway. It’s just for show. I need to at least look a little dangerous.”
“Why?”
“You know why.”
“Tell .”
“You… seriously, this guy. The enemies are getting stronger. This stupid pistol’s gonna stop working soon, and you won’t let use anything stronger. At a certain point, [Reset] spamming isn’t going to cut it.”
“Good answer.”
John looked up at the night sky.
“Well. It’ll be worth it to stick around a little longer. Just to see what’s going on.”
~~~
The next morning, Anta was ready to leave.
“Are you sure about this?” Zuko said worriedly. “This task-”
“I’ll handle it. I just wanted to make sure you were ok with it. Then… I likely won’t see you again for a while. Ah. And don’t tell Briar about this, all right?”
“But-”
“She’s going to worry about . I… there’s no point in a gift if they pay you back for it, right?”
Anta grinned as she opened the door.
“Hm… that smile. I see why my daughter is good friends with you,” Zuko smiled. “Then, best of luck, child.”
Anta nodded, stepping out into the fresh outdoors. She glanced around, then let Prota back into the body. A full night of occupying it was enough for the soul.
“...to the casino?” Prota said quietly.
She was still a little shaken by having seen John so casually.
“Yeah. To be honest… I don’t really know what we’re going to do there,” Anta sighed. “The situation last ti kinda just worked out, but weeding out the cultists will be a separate issue entirely.”
Prota continued to walk for a bit, churning ideas in her mind.
In the end, though, one particularly good one ca to mind.
“Bait.”
“Wha- oh. I understand. Prota, that’s-”
“We said we would help,” Prota said quietly. “It’s not hard. Last ti, John also did it. Bait. This ti… I’ll do it.”
“Prota, no offense, but we’re both still kids. I can negotiate for you, but it’s just not going to carry the sa weight.”
“Use [DEM]-”
“I’m going to stop you right there. Why are you so insistent on doing things the sa way? John was weak back then, mind you. We took roundabout ways because John needed to compensate properly. We are different. Now that we’re just, I don’t know, ignoring the butterfly effect, we don’t need to be concerned about any of that. Ok?”
“Nn.”
The casino was their next destination. Since they’d received permission to stay out and miss classes, there was no point in temporarily returning to Scholaris.
“Hey.”
Prota nearly jumped out of her skin as a voice approached her from behind. That voice was incredibly familiar. Maybe a little more hollow than usual, but familiar nonetheless.
“You’re that girl that was in the old man’s house.”
John was standing there, holding a bottle of water in hand.
“...hello.”
Prota was dying to run up and hug him, but the urge had to be suppressed. Moreover, she was following Anta’s instructions directly, since she herself was too frazzled to keep herself calm.
“So. What’s your next move?” John said lazily.
“Um. Back to school. Just visiting a friend’s house.”
It was good that the house had been dark. Hopefully, he hadn’t seen Anta’s red hair and was assuming everything was the sa. They hadn’t locked eyes, and he hadn’t looked at her for too long, so it was possible he hadn’t noticed much.
“Back to school, huh? Right, right. That’s a good excuse.”
Prota remained silent. There wasn’t anything for her to say.
“Look. Hero, right? That’s you?”
At that, Prota didn’t even flinch.
Suddenly, a sense of confidence welled up within her. John was playing a ga. He was under the impression that he knew more than anyone. Normally, that should’ve been the case. While there were a few existences who could read him a little, like Sofya, he was typically the one holding all the cards.
But that wasn’t the case.
Prota knew of a future John did not. Prota knew the sa truths John knew.
And with Anta’s accelerated thinking, they could easily outmaneuver John. If he was going to base his assumptions on the fact that this world was a [Story], then they just had to tell him sothing that would confirm their identity.
“Hero?” Prota said, tilting her head to the side. “No.”
“...look, you have so kind of special magic. There’s no point in hiding it.”
Anta cursed. John had seen their hair colour change.
“Prota,” Anta said slowly. “Stay calm. But John is going to pull his gun out. You can’t react, no matter what. Understood?”
“...why?”
“If we react… we know what it is. You have to stare at it like it’s just a piece of tal. Got it?”
“Nn.”
John sighed, staring at Prota. Thankfully, her poker face seed to be incredibly helpful here. She was giving no reaction, which would make it harder for John to read the situation.
“Why were you in that house, then?” John said, his tone casual. “Co on, it’s not just a coincidence.”
“Briar asked to deliver sothing,” Prota said calmly. “I had a lot of tokens. So I could leave. Briar said she didn’t do well, so she couldn’t go.”
If Prota had really been a [Protagonist], she would have explained things in such a way that would make it make sense to the [Readers] as well. Or, at least, that was the hope. But, by explaining things so matter-of-factly, as if it was obvious what she were saying, then that would seem less like a [Story] and more like an action an [Extra] would take.
“I… I see,” John said, looking just a little confused. “Hm. Sorry about that.”
“You’re mister Hi’s friend, right?” Prota said, stumbling over her words.
She wasn’t used to talking like that, but it was what Anta was telling her to say.
“Sure. Sothing like that, kid,” John sighed.
Then, he whipped out the pistol. Prota stared at it in wonder, almost as if she’d missed seeing the thing. She knew that death was near.
Yet, strangely, she didn’t particularly care.
“What is it?” Prota said, looking back up at John.
Her heart was pounding.
This whole situation had felt like a setup to a confrontation. She wouldn’t be surprised if a fight broke out here, and all of their progress ended here and now.
“I see. I’ll let you go.”
“Ok. Bye-bye.”
Prota walked off, trying to stabilize her breath. She didn’t look behind her, but based on the souls…
Zero was watching.
“We’ll have to fight him. Eventually.”
“Nn.”
“But we should probably stay away from this town for a few months.”
~~~
Prota had initially protested, but at the end of the day, that was exactly what she did.
She stayed in Scholaris for a few months.
During that ti, the rest of the group was gathered. In addition to Briar, Arthur and Aurora joined, reminding Prota of the old days. Of course, Arthur’s situation was a little different. He seed a lot more timid than usual. Anta told her it was because John had given the boy sothing, but she couldn’t replicate it, so they wouldn’t be helping him this ti around.
Still, four months of fun was a welco break. Prota had told Briar to tell her grandfather she wouldn’t be able to help for a bit, under the pretext of getting additional help, which wasn’t exactly untrue.
Well, it was actually entirely untrue. But nobody needed to know that.
Finally, the midterms ca up. This ti, Prota opted to go alone.
“Destiny,” Prota said quietly as they stood on the boat. “...cultists.”
“More of ‘em, huh?” the hero sighed. “Yeah. I’m not surprised.”
“It’s ok,” Prota nodded. “You are strong.”
“Coming from you, I don’t know how to take that,” Destiny laughed. “But thanks for the heads up.”
“Maybe no cultists, too,” Prota offered. “Things changed.”
“But they’re targeting you, aren’t they? So it’s safer to assu things might go wrong. Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll be fine.”
Prota nodded, but she wasn’t so sure. Last ti, the two cultists she’d faced were quite strong, and that was before she’d displayed such open strength. Then again, they’d taken her lightly, and they had been rather strong.
Although she was wandering the castle, using her keen senses to gather points, it all felt strangely dull.
eting John still had a lasting impact on her.
All of these other goals. Fighting cultists. Helping Zuko. Confronting Hikari. Solving Kit’s problems. They all felt so very, very small.
Such was the scale of saving the world.
In retrospect, everything else felt insignificant.
“Bad mindset to get into,” Anta warned as Prota found herself in a long hallway.
Sunlight stread through the cracked windows. Fresh cold air blew in, and Prota took a deep breath in.
“It’s how John sees things, you know. In perspective. You were almost thinking that other problems weren’t worth dealing with, right?”
Prota nodded.
Even though it’d been four months and a world of distraction later, Prota couldn’t help but be lost in that way of thinking.
“We’ll run into him eventually. But right now isn’t that ti. Focus on what’s in front of you.”
Prota nodded. It was a sha that the incident with John had ended so anticlimactically, but such was life. Not everything had to blow up.
She hit another target with an icicle, imdiately getting another reward. While she did enjoy the school life, she couldn’t help but find these exams incredibly dull.
“Prota! Snap out of it!”
Anta’s yelled startled her, enough to pull her out of her thoughts.
“Go. That way. Take a left… alright, keep going. Yeah. Alright, stop there.”
Prota followed her soul’s directions, leading her to a familiar courtyard.
“Look, that wasn’t even entirely my fault, ok? You just have to-”
She almost smiled as she rembered John nearly falling off the balcony. Looking around, it was still just as beautiful as before. Cracked stones, untouched snow, a sad yet romantic blend of grey and white.
“You can’t forget, Prota. You have to rember what you’re fighting for, or it’s not worth it.”
“Rember…?”
“What’s the point in saving the world if you’re not there for it? What’s the point in saving a world you don’t care for? If you can’t be bothered to help the people you call friends, then just don’t help them at all. Just because there’s a grander goal doesn’t an the little things beco irrelevant.”
Suddenly, a massive explosion knocked the balcony off the wall. Prota leapt up, senses on alert as she cushioned her fall with so wind. From the dust and rubble ca two figures.
Thankfully, it seed they hadn’t sent anybody new.
“Soul Steal, huh?”
“Leon. You could’ve been a little more graceful with your entry.”
“Bah, what’s the point? It’s better to make things go ka-boom!”
Prota stared at her opponents dismissively, then rembered what Anta was saying.
If she didn’t take this seriously…
Then there was no point in taking anything seriously at all.
To John, this was a [Story].
To Prota, this was life.
And she was fighting to prove that point.
Then, if this were life, a battle with one’s life on the life should be taken seriously.
“Hello, little girl,” Leon, the hulking man grinned.
Betty, the more graceful lady, smiled as she held a fan made of ice.
“We’ll be taking you in, now.”
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