403/Upgrades and Preparations

Upgrades and Preparations
Date of Scene:	11 September 2023
Location:	Obsidian Tower - Dark Laboratory
Synopsis:	Takashi's got new parts, which means new upgrades for Luminous Titan! And a discussion about Firefly's Future.
Cast of Characters:	Takashi Agera, Hotaru Tomoe
Tinyplot:	Midnight Tokyo

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Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi Agera has, despite all of the business lately, the chaos that Sunbreaker's kidnapping of Naru has caused, his concerns about Midnight Tokyo, and a dozen other smaller problems, finally found time to do one of the things he actually enjoys. And, more than that, he's got a plan, a project that he wants to work on. And that always puts him a good mood. So, perhaps uncharacteristically for recently, he's got music on in his laboratory. It's not terrifically loud, but it's also probably not what someone would expect. He's moving around the room to the beat, listening to some English Synthpop. Picking up various gear and equipment and setting it on the table. Most of it is spoils from Hotaru-chan's and Fate-chan's haul in the Artha Crash Site Recovery.

    He also doesn't realize that Hotaru, who he called earlier, has already made her way down into the office and opened the door without him hearing - maybe her footfalls are just too quiet. Which means she'll have to break him out of whatever headspace she's in and get his attention while the female voice sings about "colourless colour". He's got a bunch of tools and equipment out on his desk, mostly but not entirely Mid-Childan.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe was just staring at him, a small smile on her lips. Oh my gosh. He was *dancing*. Okay, no, he wasn't dancing. He was working to the beat. But in her mind, that was dancing. Kind of. More or less. He was dancing ENOUGH for her to count it as dancing. And she couldn't help but grin wide as she watched. He was happy and there was no way she was going to interfere. She did... wait a few minutes, watching him... before... well...

She wasn't listening to much j-pop lately, she had been listening to Nemophila a lot lately (thanks Kyouka).

But now she well... Nobody else but them could see, so... She danced too. But it was her, so it was more bobbing her legs, hands moving back and forth in a simple, not-much-space taken dance. Eventually he'd likely turn around enough to see his lil assistance dancing not too far from the desk.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi turned around at one point, some sort of arcane-looking ratchet-like device in his hand, and nearly bumped into her, because he was in his own headspace.

    "Oh. Hotaru-chan." he said, the words coming out a little slowly as he got back to wherever this planet was located. "Hey... how long have you been there?" he asks as he pulls out his phone and lowers the volume of the playing music. "Probably longer than I'd hope, right?"

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe blinked and looked up. "Awwww," she mumbled when the music lowered. "Ohhhh... a while, now. Probably. But don't worry, Takashi-senpai. I won't say anything," she said with that smile of hers. "It's nice seeing you happy like that. You looked like you were having fun." She certainly was.

"Does... that mean everything we brought back turned out to be useful?" Oh. Oh she looked *so* happy when she said that. Why? Because HOTARU had been useful. He'd added it to his report. She HEARD him. Yup. She was USEFUL. Her work had HELPED. She'd brought him things. She'd been a beneficial member of the team and she was practically *glowing* with pride, her smile enough to lighten the room all on its own! Okay, not really, but if that was possible it would have.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi looked a little embarassed for a moment, but finally gave a shrug mixed with a sigh. "I don't let myself have fun enough. I'm sure that's what you and others would say." He adds, not really replying but half-smiling.

    "And yes, so much of what you brought back was either directly useful or gave me information or something. It's partly a testament to how far behind we are here, versus wherever this stuff comes from. Another dimension, world, something. But technologically ahead of us, to say nothing of mixing magic with technology." he says. "And I'm yammering. And I didn't bring you here to yammer at you." he says with nod. "Actually, I've asked you to come down here because some of the gear you girls brought me has given me an idea about how to upgrade Luminous Titan to be more useful for you - and to allow you to engage our enemies better." he adds.

    "So, I watched you carve through the spaceship to get at the goodies inside, and I thought - you've always been so much more innately capable with your glaive than with the blasts. It'd be nice if you could use your glaive to stop people from getting in our way. But, of course, you could never engage a person the way you engaged that door, because you wouldn't want to hurt them, right?" he asks. There's more to his question that the obvious and Hotaru can tell.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe nodded rapidly. Oh, so rapidly. Like, she even comically moved her head back so far she was looking behind herself when she nodded. So yes. He needed to have more fun. "You need to have more fun like daddy needs to take more time off," Hotaru said flatly. Snarky little thing.

She didn't follow the uhhh... magic/tech stuff as well aside from him thinking it was advanced and cool. But of course it was advanced. It came from spaaaaaace. Stuff from space was automatically advanced, that was the rule. "I don't mind when you yammer. Even if I don't understand a lot of it, you're pretty happy and I like helping you. Even if I can't do all the... like... math thingies."

She did, however, pause and look up at him when he said he wanted to upgrade her weapon. "You... do? Oh. Uhhhh... can... can I stay in here? While you work on it? I don't want Luminous to get scared," she said before her cheeks went red. Okay, she didn't have a lot of friends, okay? So maybe she saw the AI as one. Even if it wasn't the most advanced...

She did, of course, have it go into glaive form and held it out. Her cheeks went scarlet when he called her out for her unwillingness to... well... hurt the enemy. "I just... I... I know they don't mean badly, Takashi-senpai. They're just... wrong. They don't understand that you're doing this for the right reasons. That you help people too. I don't want to hurt someone too much for making a mistake."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "Hey now, I at least take you and Fate-chan to do fun things. I get some fun via osmosis." he protests. "But, of course you can stay here. It's kind of nice having you around when I work, really. The only time I don't want you in here is when whatever I'm working on is too dangerous for you to be close, that's all. Otherwise, you're pretty much welcome here. One day we'll have a bigger office and you'll have your own space - but it can be next to mine if you like." he notes.

    "So... anyways. Luminous Titan... I wouldn't hurt him, he's your friend I made for you." he points out slash takes credit for.

    "Though you might want to consider a rename since, when I'm done with my work, it might make more sense." he says with a cryptic smile. "Anyways. I thought that instead of trying to convince you some people just need stabbing... what I'd do is make it so you can stab people without seriously injuring them." he adds.

    "I got the idea from Bardiche's energyblade. Though I think hers is a lot more default-to-stabby. But since the blade is magic... and you don't use Dark Energy - I think by default I could make it nonlethal. I mean it would still get them to leave you alone if you stabbed them good but you wouldn't be putting up any kind of permanent injuries."

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
"I don't need my own space. I'd rather just share yours," Hotaru said. As if that wasn't what he wanted to avoid. "Besides, I doubt I could ever really do the stuff you do, Takashi-senpai. Copying you isn't that hard, but it's all so... new, you know?" she said sheepishly. Even if she could watch him put something together and then put it together herself, she couldn't figure out how to get object A to fit into object C by using a bit of wire and foil. She just knew that object B was needed and they often ran out of object B's.

"I know you wouldn't hurt him!" Hotaru said quickly. "I just... whenever your friend is... doing something serious, you don't... want to leave their side, you know?" It was why she was always a little sad when he went off on his own.

Her eyes lit up and she looked VERY excited then. "Wait wait wait. So... so I could run around and fight like Fate-kohai and be all cool and awesome and slashy and stuff but nobody would actually get hurt? Ohhhhh! Would it be cool? Could it make light saber sounds? Can it like, sparkle and stuff sometimes when I get a critical hit?"

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi both sighs and tries, and fails, not to smile at his excited little kohai/employee's reaction. "Well, let's put it this way. That's between you and Luminous Titan. I think he'd advise against it for tactical reasons. But what do I know. He's the one that has to make the noises or say the things. I'm not coding it in myself, though." he adds.

    "And don't worry, Hotaru-chan. If you understand anything of what I'm doing that puts you in rare company. Of those of us who were born on Earth it may well just be me and somewhat you who understand how to do any of this. Working with math like this sometimes makes MY head hurt." he continues, before patting her head.

    He looks at the glaive in his hands. "Luminous Titan, you're alright with getting an upgrade so Hotaru can fight with less worries, right?" he asks the Device.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe nodded. "Right! Eeeee! Isn't this going to be fun, Titan?" Hotaru asked, grinning up at him. Total faith that he wouldn't screw this up. Then again, he made Luminous Titan.

And then, more praise. She ate it up. Eeeeee! "Yeah, I get headaches too when I do some of this works. Especially when I look at the really thin bits and pieces and try to get them all in the holes. It's so frustrating when things don't work right. But that's why it's so nice working with you, Senpai. I don't need to be smart to know you're smart," she said happily. Easier to make him do all the work and be his lil kohai.

< ... Affirmative. Make me critically. Hit. >

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi laughs. "It helps when you realize that you're working in more dimensions than you can actually see with human eyes." he notes. "I guess that doesn't help the headaches. But it's sort of like... if you've ever tried to plug in a USB and somehow felt like it had 3 ways to plug it in even though it should be 2? If you have you know what I mean, and it's like that. If not, then I guess that wasn't super helpful.

    "I would suggest you test this out in some circumstance that isn't critical, like a solo energy gathering operation." he notes. "So that you and Luminous Titan can determine how much of your... critical hit idea... you actually want to roll with. Plus losing the tip of the spear for an energy blade will change the way it handles. Should be easier, but it'll take some getting used to."

    "Also... if you did end up in a circumstance where you NEEDED to hurt someone... you could, if you focused your intent. But otherwise it should be perfectly safe." Takashi and things that should be perfectly safe. A clearly good combination.

    He starts to lay Luminous Titan down on the table and begins his work.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe nodded. "Ohhhh. I hate when it does that. I didn't know that it was because of other dimensions. I just assumed it was like.... dark magic or a curse on the world, so they couldn't work sometimes until the second or third try." It made sense, honestly. Magic was real. And it messed with USBs.

"And gotcha! Try it out on something... ohhhhh. I could spar with Fate, maybe! Oh... wait... then she'd know I was... weak... huh... maybe I can find one of the other magical girls and ask if they'd spar with me. I mean, the sparkle skirts." Yes, let me just... go to the enemy and ask if they'll train me. Worse? They probably would. "OH! Or I could try it on Kaolinite!" THAT WAS NOT A GOOD IDEA AND AN AMAZING IDEA AT THE SAME TIME!

"So... is it like... will Luminous Titan just kind of sleep through it?" she asked, watching him...

And then... "Are the youma we use sentient?"

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi laughed. "Not quite what I meant. Although, if I get all of the other things I'm working on finished I might have to test that." he muses, quite seriously, for a moment.

    "I would absolutely test it out on one of the sparkles. But like... when they come to stop you. Not just walking up and asking if you can. It's still a blade. It's still going to hurt. It's just not going to hurt in a serious manner. They're still not going to have 'fun' being chopped by your energy blade. Also forwarning, the stick part is still gonna be metal so if you whack somebody with that you might actually hurt them." he warns. Not because he's worried about Hotaru hurting anyone, but because Hotaru is.

    "Sentient? Depends on how you define it. Sure, a person is sentient. But... Is an insect sentient? Is a plant? A slime mold?" he asks. "What you're really asking is if you should feel bad for using them and you should not." Takashi answers without answering.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe perked up again. More science? "Oh! Oh! Can I help?" she asked excitedly. Only her. Just... her. "I mean, I just... like doing it with you. I want to do things with you, it's fun. I always learn so much! You teach me some things to do and a lot of things to not do," she said happily.

... Wait a second. Not wrong, though.

"Gotcha, though. Hit with the glowy bit, only hit if they really deserve it with the blunt end, but don't hit hard enough where it can like... break bones. I think I can do that," she said proudly. Hotaru, totally-not-destroyer-of-bones.

"... Are they like... real? I mean, like, are they... do they feel pain? Are they like... dogs? Can they feel pain and fear and stuff? Like... I know they imitate it, but I always thought they were like... robot things. Designed to look like it, but not actually that way. Are we... hurting... living creatures when we have them fight for us?"

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi smiles. "You can help, yeah. You can pass me tools. I can try to explain some stuff but like I said, some of it gives me a headache too. Honestly, and don't tell anybody else, I think some of this stuff I feel more than understand, too. I can feel how the magic flows and what feels 'right' or 'wrong' when I'm building these connections. But I don't think I could tell somebody else how to feel it." he says. "But if you'll pass me that... the red square, there. And the purple sparkly gem, there. I'm sure all of this stuff has names but I don't know what they are. I guess I should name them. Maybe I will if I do this more often someday."

    "Well... okay so Youma is a really, really broad term. Some people call the animals that Norie feeds in the Dusk Zone youma. And that's kind of right but also not. There's some people in Beryl's divison who are also youma, but they're clearly people who can think and make complex plans. So it's like asking if something is an animal. The youma that we use basially only exist in that moment, and as far as I know don't really 'think' - they're more like the plants. They exist, seek energy, and then they don't exist."

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe held out the lil square and gem. She at least was able to follow along with it, more or less. That was possibly why she made such a good assistant. She knew enough to help, but not enough to be dangerous. And she respected his ability to do both. "That makes a lot of sense. Honestly, when I hold the glaive, it feels like that. Or run around in the magic high heels. Like... I feel I shouldn't be able to wear them like that, but it feels almost second nature sometimes. It was really weird one time when I just jumped on a fence with them and didn't even lose my balance at all."

Yeah. Magic was weird. Sometimes you could teleport. Other times you could run in heels one tenth your height.

The more he talked, the more she nodded. "I see... that's good. Thank you, Takashi-senpai. I don't... want to. Be that kind of person, you know? Who uses... I don't want things to die because of me. I want to do more good than I did bad when I leave this world," she said softly. A bit of... a... downer. Wow.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi muses quietly to himself. "Yeah, I'm starting to think something is going on with you. I don't think that's the same thing as what's giving you magic now. But... I don't know enough about all of this to be able to answer it... yet. I will, one day, if you stick with me." He smiles. "Right now I have kind of a vague theory about past lives, but Obsidian doesn't really know much about magic prior to my mother's... discoveries." he notes. "A lot of the other people around though, they're older than Obsidian. Some of them say it's not their first go-round. Like Beryl... actually, pretend I didn't say anything about her. Some of the things I know, I'm not supposed to know." he admits, and spends a few moments of quiet silence working.

    "I think that's a good thing to want to do, Hotaru-chan." Takashi says after a moment. "And it should be acheivable because you're working really hard to not put much bad into the world. Even though you're working with us." He says, and works quietly for a little longer. "...I have to do a lot more good than you do, to make that equation balance out right for me." he says.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe couldn't help but feel a small chill in her bones when it came to Beryl. After a moment, she nodded. "I'll... be honest. I don't... like Beryl. She always seems so... so bad. Like... awful. I don't... like her. Even when she's polite I always feel like she's just waiting to stab you in the spleen or something. And that's if she doesn't care about you or even likes you. I don't want to know what she's like around people she does like," Hotaru mumbled. Yeah, she'd totally push her down the stairs happily. Oh, maybe she could ask Pyrite to grab her ankles once... nah. Bad idea.

"So, what about past lives? Do you think you have one?" she asked.

However, when he mentioned having to do more to balance the equation out... she paused and then, slowly, reached out a hand and put it on his. "I know," Hotaru said. "Sometimes we have to do bad things. Sometimes we do bad things. But... I do think you mean to go better things. And I think you will. So long as you keep trying, I know you'll do it one day. Because you're stubborn, Takashi-senpai. And smart. So I think you won't let it end up negative in the end."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi nods. "That's because Beryl is. Not the about to be spleen-stabbing. Well, maybe the spleen-stabbing." he says, shrugging very casually for saying this in general, much less about a Director. "I don't envy Shields-san's position really. He's got a higher rank than me but I wouldn't want to deal with Beryl. I could probably have things a little easier if I asked him to switch me departments, but... look, I'd rather eat lunch with Kaolinite than pass Beryl in the hallways." he says, bluntly.

    "I don't know. If I did have a past life I don't see how it could be relevant now. There's no way the circumstances that made me what I am could have ever occured in another situation, so... if I had a past life I suspect it was boring and mundane." he said, with a shrug. "And therefore irrelevant to me."

    "But you... when you picked up that glaive. All of the other weapons you were a blatant novice with. But the glaive, you handle like someone with years of experience. The few times I've seen you fight - it's like the movements you make are unreal to me. I know that sometikmes some of the other girls have a knowledge when they transform, but... yours seems different to me." He doesn't explain where he's seen the other girls. Takashi knows more than he should.

    "I'm sure I'll end up on the upside, yeah." he says, with that confidence that he can show. "It's just... I'm not unaware that some of the things I do incur a debt I'll have to pay off. But if you'd seen what I've seen, if you knew what threats there are... outside Obsidian, within Obsidian... well, that's why I do what I do. I don't want to lose any tools to protect people. I don't want to lose this world. And I don't want to lose the Dusk Zone either. So if I have to hurt a few people today to protect everyone from like, an apocalypse, next year... the karmic debt will still end up in my favor, right?"

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe gave a light shudder. "Lunch? With Kaolinite? Nope. Ew. I don't dislike Beryl THAT much," she said. "Kaolinite probably tries to steal your lunch, anyway." Okay, so MAYBE she was unfairly harsh on the woman. Oh, wait. No. She definitely was.

The comment on her having past lives, however, made her frown. She closed her eyes and thought on it for a few moments. "A... past... life..." she mumbled. "Well... I... remember having a dream once, where I was a baker in rome. And then Lancelot came and told me I was a princess before pulling me onto his pegasus and we flew off towards the sky city..." she mumbled gently. "Do... do you think that could have been true?" she asked softly. What? Magic was real. It could be. Don't judge her.

Her hand gave his another squeeze before she pulled her own back. "It does," she said firmly. "Doing good doesn't remove the bad. But.,.. sometimes bad has to be done for good to happen. And sometimes it means good people have to do bad things, so better people don't have to. I... don't want to hurt. But I will if I have to. Because... I know it's for the greater good. And I hope one day everyone will see that. But..."

She trailed off and then, very softly, she reached out and grabbed the corner of his shirt. "Takashi-sempai... If I'm... not able to keep the balance clean when... my body gives out... can you... clean it for me?" she asked softly. So softly.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi just smiled a little. He picked Kaolinite for that example explictly because of Hotaru's dislike for the woman, but even he underestimated it. "Really, I don't get the spleen-stabby energy from Kolinite, but she's also not trying to be my mom." he notes, shrugging.

    "It's possible. It's at least as possible as all sorts of other things I've had to consider." he notes. "Magic's always been here for me, ever since I was very, very young. So I kind of accept things I think some people find a lot more difficult." he admits. "There's a nonzero chance I'm the reincarnation of Albert Einstien. There's a nonzero chance you were Lancelot's princess." he just says, bluntly. "I just don't think either are very likely."

    Then she gets serious, about her time, about making the balance up, about all of that. Takashi leans down. "There are two things right now, in my world, that are of utmost importance to me." Takashi says. "The first, is making sure the world doesn't explode out from underneath me, because other stuff doesn't really matter if that happens. The number two thing... is finding out what's going on with you, with your Linker Core, with the feeling I get from you. The work I've been doing with Hematite and his friends, the information I'm pulling... I'm looking for answers." he says, bluntly. "So while I'll also commit to making sure I keep that side of your... balance sheet, positive... I'm going to do everything I can to make it not a relevant concern. I'm not going to have someone who is my responsibility... go away, because I'm not going to accept that... I didn't do everything I could." he says, bluntly. "I couldn't live with myself if I had to carry that on. Then, the Dark Energy really would eat me from the inside."

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe shuddered. "I'd rather someone be hostile to me than pretend to be nice and then be after something for me. You may not always be the nicest person, but... at least you're honest with me. And, well, you're always nice to me," she said with a happy giggle. "I'm happy I got to meet you. Before I met you I... never thought I'd actually have a friend." Sure, he might not have little pink twintails, but... he'd been there when she needed him most.

She did, however, manage to look disappointed when she was told she likely wasn't Lancelot's girlfriend.

But when the topic took a turn for the worse, she... looked stricken. Her eyes going wide. Then, very slowly, she shook her head. "Takashi-senpai... please... don't," she whispered softly. Tugging on his shirt a little more. "I'm not dumb. I know... I know my condition is getting worse. As... as much as that dark energy inside me... might be making it worse? It might be the only thing keeping me alive. My injuries are... terrible. My body won't... can't last much longer. Every seizure I have I always wonder if this... will be the one. If this will be where my body gives out. I know daddy says that, eventually, I'm going to be okay. That he's going to keep making things better. But..." She lifted a hand to her necklace.

"You were the first one to actually give me the tools I needed to help people. To... to help me leave things a better place than when I started. You believed in me. That's why I know if I help you, even if... I do bad things... so long as I'm helping you I know you'll make things better in the end. My... my time is going to run out eventually, senpai. You're too smart to not know that... And who knows? Maybe you'll save me. But... if you can't?"

"Please don't let everything you helped me to achieve be for nothing."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi pauses a while and contemplates that. "I am as nice as I can afford to be, honestly. I'm balancing a lot of things." he says, putting his hand to his chest, where he'd be clutching at his own Linker Core if he could touch it. "I can't be too nice or too mean. It's a balancing act. I wish so much that we'd gotten the kind of magic you see in the stories. Eye of Newt or Magic Incantations. Say the right words and bam, spell comes out, spell doesn't care what your intents are. But that's not the kind of magic that we actually have. All of that other stuff is fantasy. It doesn't matter whether you're a sparkle skirt or a giant wolfman or me, emotions fuel everything. The right emotions can be a source of strength or a source of weakness, both ways. I have to be careful what I allow myself to feel because I sit in the middle. But I can't feel nothing, either. Or I have no power at all!" he laughs. "So... I guess what I'm saying is, I wish I could be nicer to people. But I can't let go of the power the other emotions grant me. Not when there's such a need for that power. Not when the world's fate might well depend on my ability to master it and control it."

    "And look. I know I'm racing against time. I'm not stupid either. I know you're getting worse. I get readouts from Luminous Titan that tell me on a percentage-based level so I know exactly how much worse you are getting on any given day." he says, bluntly. "So don't think I'm saying it's easy." he goes on.

    "And I'm not even saying I'll succeed. I can't promise that." he notes, looking down and away so he can continue working on Luminous Titan. "I'm just saying that if your time runs out, I'm not going to spend the rest of my life wondering if I could have done more." he notes. Of course, he's lying. He'd always wonder if he could do more, allocate resources, time, effort differently. "I'm not going to leave anything on the table, Tomoe-chan. You're pretty much my adopted little sister in the way Shields-san is my adopted brother. I know I'm working agaisnt the clock, but that just means I have to work harder."

    "And every time we go out there together and achieve our goals... we're doing something to either help you, or bring me closer to being able to offset my failure to save you. So. If you don't want our shared achievements to be for nothing... help me where you can, as best you can. That's the best chance of it all working out."

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe gave a small nod, looking down at Luminous Titan. "I know. Dark energy is... interesting. You know, sometimes I wish I could use it without... worsening my condition. I've... tried a few times, you know? To actually wield it? But it really hurts. Whenever I try, it's like I'm being torn up from the inside and... and I hate it. I'm happy you can use it, though. I'm happy you're learning to harness it. I... I wouldn't want to give it up if I couldn't do anything otherwise. I think now that I better understand, if not for Luminous Titan? I might have tried. To be like you... I think I would have gotten worse."

She leaned against him, her head resting against his side. "Thank you. I know... heh. Daddy does that too," Hotaru said gently. "I know he's always... working. Always trying to improve things. I know... I know he just wants to be sure that... that I live long enough. But it always means he misses things with me. He cancels our plans. He didn't even come to visit mom's grave with me..."

She gave a sigh. "I sometimes wonder... if when I go... will he think about all those times he missed me? He... left... and... worked? And if I... would I rather live an extra few months or see daddy a few more times..."

And he could feel a little warmth from the tears in her cheeks on his lab coat.

"Just... just know that, no matter what... Even if you don't make it? I was happy in the time I got to spend with you and I'm happy you were able to make time for me. I'd... rather have a life worth living than one where I just survive."

Even if she was crying, she was also smiling. "And you've been making it one where I can live. So I know if I keep helping you, even if we can't fix me... I know the goals you'll achieve will make so many things better, Takashi-sempai. And I'm happy I got to be a part of that."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi sighs. "I've been a fool, for a while, I'll admit it. I assumed everybody was using it the same way I always have. You know, just access it, like opening up a program on their desktop. Turns out all of you are running a different operating system entirely. Dark Energy goes to war with your Linker Cores. Darien, his brothers, you. And for Yochu and Norie - it's the opposite. Dark Energy is all they have for Linker Cores and it actively resists change from the other direction." he admits. "That's... personal research, don't go sharing it around. We're still really, really early in understanding how Dark Energy truly affects people and I wouldn't want to... let this information out yet. I don't want the wrong people to use it." he notes."I'm glad you didn't try to be like me, Hotaru-chan. You should be like you. You're very good at it. Early on I tried to make you a little bit too much like me, too. But you've shown you're effective in your own way. That's why I'm changing Luminous Titan now - to make him better fit you."

    Takashi suddenly notices Hotaru pressing her little head to his body. "I think... in a way... this is also taking care of you, treating you. While your condition isn't improving, overall, some parts of it are..." he admits. "You do better when I spend time with you. That's got a maximum limit, it seems - but you fair better when we spend at least some time together? So, I've been making it a point to do so." he admits. "I like being around you for it's own merits as well. You're an excellent lab assistant." he says, patting her head.

    He looks down at her, and if she looks up to him, she can see that he's crying too. Not in the same way she is - a little sterner, a little more composed. But the tears are there, falling slowly. "Whatever happens, Hotaru-chan, I'm not letting you go without a fight, at least. Whatever this is going on with your body... it's not getting you the easy way, if it's going to get you at all." he says, leaning down and hugging her. "Let's fight as hard as we can, Hotaru-chan. If we can't win, let's at least whup its butt on the way out. Right?"

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe nodded, giving the softest smile. She was... happy. She was so happy now. She wanted to live... but she doubted she would. Every day she wondered if it would be the day her body gave out.

But she had friends. She had... family.

"I know if we can't win, we we'll fight it tooth and nail. We'll at least make it regret it..."

"Oniisan."