PC WITH ANAIDO I MEAN FUKUDA

[commedia]

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[commedia]

Mmmmm?

[A light smile.]

How so?

[holeful]

Well, in that I've only ever heard it before in stories about Abe no Seimei.

[He did consider that maybe it is that Douman but he's pretty sure someone would have written about Ashiya Douman being this tall and unique looking?]

[commedia]

[Oh, that is a definite twitch of their lips. The light smile seems a little strained.]

Indeed, there are legends about me and...that man. You are correct on that.

[holeful]

[Oh no.]

... Ah, you're the real Ashiya Douman?
[WILD? Unless this is another Aoi situation? Who's to say any more.]

I'm sorry for bringing that up, then.

[commedia]

Well, "real" is...

[They trail off, letting out a sigh.]

Mmm. Quite alright! Its quite alright. This humble priest has nothing that particularly displeases them...except for that man.

[holeful]

[Suspicious! That's fine though.]

So that's why you're unfamiliar with video games?
[As he resumes rummaging. Before finding a title he vaguely recognizes.]

Ah, I think this is one...

[commedia]

I know what they are. But I've never played one.

[Thanks, Approximate Knowledge of Modern Things!]

Oh? Go on, let's play!

[holeful]

I haven't really either. Not this sort of game, anyway.
[Sometimes when he was a kid he'd had games. But he hadn't really since he'd grown up.

Anyway he puts in Cl*nnad, sitting down on the floor before the tv because that just feels to him the way you play video games.]

But I want to understand miss Aoi a little better.

[commedia]

Aoi?

[That earns Fukuda a curious look.]

Because of her nature?

[holeful]

Aah. I don't know if she's really a video game character or not. But that's what she thinks of herself as.

[So really she might as well be?]

[commedia]

Indeed, she does. Her view of the world, of everything, her role in this world...is very inhuman.

[They move to sit, crosslegged as they stare at the TV expectantly.]

You know...there were contraptions like that even in the past. Dolls. Karakuri, they called them. Human, and yet not. She reminds me of that.

[holeful]

Something incomplete. I can sort of understand that much.

[And now his attention is getting split as he starts the game.]

... Ah this girl's eyes are quite far apart.

[commedia]

Ahaha, what an interesting look!

[The uncanniness only seems to amuse them.]

Now, now, do we start playing this novel?

[holeful]

We're already playing it. I just have to hit this button to advance the text.

[Which he has been, slowly, since he's dividing his attention.]

I think she's the love interest, so this is a sort of meet-cute, as it were.

[commedia]

Hmmm.

[Doesn't seem much like "playing", but sure.]

Oh, she's like Aoi, then? She doesn't talk like Aoi, though.

[holeful]

Well, there's different types of love interest, I think. Usually there's different "routes" where you can pursue different girls... It seems a bit cruel now that I've talked to miss Aoi.

[With her worry of fading into the background on other routes.]

[commedia]

Different girls? My, my! How scandalous! And it just allows you to do this?

[Poor miss Aoi, indeed!]

[holeful]

Well, not at the same time... probably? Each time you play the game you have to pick one route. If you want to pursue a different girl you have to start over...

[BUT AGAIN... A GIRL THATS SELF AWARE LIKE AOI...]

[commedia]

But you don't think these girls would be upset over that? Being unsatisfied with one, and starting over to get another...

[stares at aoi]

[holeful]

Well, I don't...
[Think these girls are self aware but then again maybe they're just not supposed to let the player know???]

I mean, they're not supposed to be real, or conscious. Just code. They can't remember what happened when you played the other routes.

[commedia]

Aoi is real, though.

[Just a light observation.]

Does this mean she knows what goes on in these other routes?

[holeful]

Aah. Though she said something about reloading another save file if her character fades into the background in another route.

[So in a way there are no other routes.]

[commedia]

I think she mentioned the same with me, but...

[Hm.]

What a sad way to live. Its not quite "life", is it? Just dwelling as a shadow of something far more real than you ever are.

[holeful]

[Sad, huh.]

Aah, I suppose so. But it's familiar. I feel like miss Aoi and I aren't that different, in a way.

[commedia]

...Why do you say that, Fukuda? You aren't from a game. You're more real than her and I, you know.